Spinach Lentil Soup

Cooking for oneself can get extremely boring and uninspiring even for a food blogger. Sandwich, salad or soup is easily made for one person, without going through the bother of making a 3 part Indian meal like roti, vegetable and dal. It is also a good way to compensate a heavy dinner buffet of the previous night. A soup like this is a perfect alternative to skipping a meal. The latter, as a nutrition doctor, I will never advocate.

Any fresh greens can be used instead of spinach and I have used Masoor Dal which are one of the lightest and fastest cooking lentils around. The 1.5L Hawkins Pressure Cooker is a blessing when cooking for one or a small family of two or for making your baby’s meals. Whether it is cooking dal or rice in a matter of minutes, or making a light gravy vegetable in the cooker itself – this is one piece of kitchen equipment that I find indispensable.

Printable Version of Recipe

Spinach Lentil Soup - Lunch for one

Spinach Lentil Soup Cooking for oneself can get extremely boring and uninspiring even for a food blogger. Sandwich, salad or soup is easily made for one person, without going through the bother of making a 3 part Indian meal like roti, vegetable and dal. It is also a good way to compensate a heavy d

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Ingredients Method Notes

Ingredients

1/4 cup masoor dal
1 cup spinach well washed leaves
1 - 2 cloves garlic peeled
1 cup water
1/2 tsp ghee oil or
pinch asafoetida
1/4 tsp cumin seeds
1/4 tsp black pepper ground .

Method

Wash masoor dal well and place it directly in the smallest pressure cooker you have. To this add well washed spinach leaves, discarding the thicker stems. Also add peeled garlic.
Add water and pressure cook for 2 whistles and 5 minutes on sim.
Once the contents have cooled, puree finely in a blender. Keep aside.
In a small saucepan, heat oil or ghee.
Add asafoetida, cumin seeds andground black pepper. Once the cumin seeds splutter, add the pureed soup and required quantity of water to achieve the desired consistency. Bring to a boil. Season with salt and some more pepper if required. Remove to a bowl.

Notes

Serve hot with soup sticks, bread or a salad on the side.

This is a delicately flavoured soup that will also make a good option of stage 2 solid food for your baby. You can leave out the black pepper and take care to wash the spinach extra well, even if you buy pre-washed leaves. For an older baby, you can soak bread slice or roti pieces for more texture and a more filling meal.

Next time, I will add more cumin seeds, because the taste of the fried seeds and their crunchy texture was quite yummy!

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