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easy, Soups

Spring Onion, Pumpkin and Lentil Soup

September 24, 2015

4 sick days in a row, and it feels utterly miserable. Mostly hiding under the comforter, getting up to go to the hospital, and to pop pills, seems like I am paying a price for all the fun I have been having, in the name of work. 

In the beginning of September, I had tweeted that this month is going to be full of wonderful things which it was. Covering The Economist Summit in New Delhi as one of the Standard Chartered Insiders, the partnership with Cucumbertown taking off, partnering with Ping Network’s India Food Network for my YouTube Channel and finally the talk at the epic WIN15 organized by Blogadda on ‘How to Monetize Your Food Blog’, it’s been a whirlwind of a month alright! 

I don’t know if it is a result of all this frenzy or a general dip in immunity compounded with Bangalore’s legendary cough-cold inducing weather, that I fell baaadly sick Sunday night, just about managing to keep my head above the surface of water and float.

My trusted househelp had to take an off today so I was left to fend for myself. Given a chance, I would have had steaming hot pepper rasam, rice and ghee, but I am not in a position to eat any spice whatsoever, and hence this mild soup. 

Adding spring onions and garlic ensured that it had good flavour nevertheless, plus a good pinch of turmeric for its healing powers and some leftover pieces of pumpkin thrown in to make it more filling. I also like using spring onions in my cooking, for something more than just a garnish, and this soup takes in a fair quantity of it. All vegetables from the allium family are known to ease coughs and colds, and this one has spring onion, onion and garlic. Keeping 3 fingers crossed now!

Come fall (not in my part of the world, of course), pumpkin is the ingredient to reach out for, and this soup will fit in perfectly with your scheme of things. Try this recipe for spring onions, pumpkin and lentil soup, it is simple, homely and heartwarming and it may just be a cure for sniffles too 🙂

Check out my latest video: How to cook Quinoa

Print Recipe
Spring Onion, Pumpkin and Lentil Soup Yum
A simple, warm and comforting soup for the cooler evenings - made using spring onions, pumpkin and lentils
Spring Onion, Pumpkin and Lentil Soup
Course appetizer
Cuisine global vegetarian
Cook Time 20 minutes
Servings
serving
Ingredients
  • 1/3 cup Tur Dal Cooked (Yellow lentils)
  • 1 tsp olive oil
  • 1 cup Spring onion greens , finely chopped
  • 1/2 Onion small , finely chopped
  • 1 clove garlic , finely chopped
  • 1/2 tsp ginger finely grated fresh
  • 3 tbsps orange pumpkin finely diced
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1/4 tsp black pepper freshly ground
  • 1/4 tsp turmeric ground
for garnish:
  • 2 - 3 spring onion juliennes
  • 1/2 tsp extra virgin olive oil
to serve:
  • 1 whole wheat bread slice
  • 1 tsp olive oil
  • dried herbs
Course appetizer
Cuisine global vegetarian
Cook Time 20 minutes
Servings
serving
Ingredients
  • 1/3 cup Tur Dal Cooked (Yellow lentils)
  • 1 tsp olive oil
  • 1 cup Spring onion greens , finely chopped
  • 1/2 Onion small , finely chopped
  • 1 clove garlic , finely chopped
  • 1/2 tsp ginger finely grated fresh
  • 3 tbsps orange pumpkin finely diced
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1/4 tsp black pepper freshly ground
  • 1/4 tsp turmeric ground
for garnish:
  • 2 - 3 spring onion juliennes
  • 1/2 tsp extra virgin olive oil
to serve:
  • 1 whole wheat bread slice
  • 1 tsp olive oil
  • dried herbs
Spring Onion, Pumpkin and Lentil Soup
Instructions
  1. To cook tur / toor dal, wash and soak the dal for 30 minutes. Drain the water, add fresh water to cover the dal, pinch of turmeric, few drops of oil and pressure cook, as shown in this video. You can even boil the soaked dal in plenty of water for 45 mins- 1 hour until tender.
  2. In a deep, heavy bottomed pan, heat the oil. Add the spring onion greens, chopped onion, garlic and ginger. Saute on a medium flame for 2-3 minutes.
  3. Add the diced pumpkin, salt, pepper, turmeric and saute for 3-4 minutes.
  4. Add 1.5 cups of water along with the cooked tur dal. Cover and bring to a simmer.
  5. Allow to simmer for 5-7 minutes.
  6. Garnish with fresh spring onion juliennes, few drops of extra virgin olive oil.
  7. Toast the slice of bread on a hot skillet with a bit of olive oil until lightly crisp on both sides, sprinkle with dried herbs and serve over the soup.
Recipe Notes

You can substitute toor dal with any other lentils, the faster to cook masoor dal or even soaked split green moong or soaked whole masoor. I've added pumpkin to add a bit of body to the soup and something to chew on, so it feels more wholesome. Potato, zucchini, corn or peas are good substitutes for pumpkin. 

I have held back on the spices but you can go ahead and add a pinch of garam masala or all-spice mix, or a sliced green chilli to this for more heat.

The results of the Coppre Giveaway have been announced on my Facebook Page! Any brands who want to collaborate for interesting food centric giveaways for Saffron Trail readers, do reach out to me on saffrontrail at gmail dot com

by Nandita Iyer 
1 Comment

About Nandita Iyer

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Comments

  1. Chaitali Patel says: October 18, 2016 at 3:23 pm

    I tried this recipe this evening and it was amazing! its super easy and super delicious! 🙂

    Reply

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  • Things that are making me smile this morning:
🏃‍♀️A short run in the cold breeze
🌱Rearranging some plants inside the house
❄️A new (BIG) fridge waiting to be installed
🎵Looking forward to music class
💜This soft vintage silk saree that's just perfect for the winters in Bangalore
  • ⭐️I’m going to help you eat healthy all winter using all the fabulous seasonal produce we get, so make sure you’re following my account @saffrontrail ⭐️
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🥦FULL RECIPE- SAVE THE POST🥦
Broccoli season is here and this is one recipe I plan to make every week if not more often! This literally takes five minutes, I kid you not. The garlic peeling is what takes the most time for this super easy recipe.
.
WARM BROCCOLI SALAD
----------------------------------------
2 medium heads of broccoli
1 tbsp cooking oil
1 tbsp finely minced garlic
1 tsp finely grated ginger
1/4 tsp chilli flakes
2 tsp sesame seeds
2-3 tbsp soya sauce
.
Break broccoli into florets. Wash and microwave for 3 mins or steam in steamer. Drain and keep aside.
In a pan, heat oil. Fry garlic, ginger, chili flakes, sesame for few seconds. Add soya sauce. Toss in broccoli florets and remove to a bowl immediately. Tastes best warm. Eat as a salad or with some steamed rice.
.
For more such seasonal recipes, follow @saffrontrail
  • This was the show stopper kinda salad in my salad workshop on Thursday that @chandhanarao helped organize. Lentils, pumpkin, kale with a hung yogurt dressing, and all the pretty garnishes from my garden.
.
If you are a brand or a corporate wanting to organise a salad workshop or a healthy cooking workshop featuring vibrant beautiful food, write to me saffrontrail@gmail.com or DM me here. I can also train restaurant chefs to create amazing salads.
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For more such recipe inspirations follow @saffrontrail
  • Another photo from a shoot I did with my neighbour for her saree draping workshop at @ahundredhands last month.
🌼
This saree belonged to my grandma and it is nearly 40 years old. The silk has been washed several several times over the years. It drapes ever so softly and falls beautifully. I don’t even dare to iron this delicate fabric. ⭐️
Draped by my neighbour Janaki in whose hands the fabrics simply flow, a  knot there, a tuck here and a fold there and what you see this - no pins, no petticoat, no nonsense. The cascading back pleats are more dramatic but the front is lovely as well. Swipe to see the front style.
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Is my salad doing justice to the pretty bowl or is the pretty bowl doing justice to my salad?
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Mostly all leftovers from yesterday's ZESTY SALAD WORKSHOP goes into a big salad for our lunch today.
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Now getting to the 'hire me' part-- Since I am back in the workshop groove, if you are a lifestyle /beauty/ health brand or a corporate that wants to conduct healthy cooking / eating / salad making workshops for a group of people, then please email me at saffrontrail@gmail.com - you can also email me from my bio. Preferred location is Bangalore but I am willing to consider traveling to other cities too.
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If you know of a brand or HR friends who would be keen on collaborating with me for talks and /or workshops, please share this post with them💕💕
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Ah, the pretty bowl is from @freedomtreehome btw. Not sponsored .
  • (FULL RECIPE IN POST- SAVE the POST for the recipe )
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Bringing more Amla goodness to you with this post!
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Blueberries are on the top of every antioxidant rich foods list. The antioxidant content of a food is measured in Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity (ORAC) units. Amla or Indian gooseberry has an ORAC score of 2,61,500, which is over 50 times that of blueberries. I hope that convinces you to make amla a part of your diet. Here's a simple recipe for Amla- Raita. You can mix this with rice and eat as a simple meal.
.
Amla Raita

Serves 4

4-5 amla 
¼ tsp turmeric

¼ tsp salt

3-4 tbsp coconut

2 green chillies

¼ tsp salt

2 cups yogurt

1 tsp oil

¼ tsp mustard seeds

1 sprig curry leaves

Pressure cook the amla with ½ cup water along with salt and turmeric for 4-5 minutes.

Drain amla and remove seeds. (Drink up any leftover water in cooker or add to dal)  In a mixer jar, grind together cooked amla, coconut, green chillies and salt to a coarse paste.

Add this to yogurt and whisk well.

Heat oil in a small pan. Fry mustard seeds and curry leaves. Once seeds splutter transfer over the raita. 
Do try this during the current amla- season and tag me if you post it here!
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For more such recipes, follow @saffrontrail
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She was in Bangalore over the weekend and we met for coffee and then lunch. It was such a pleasure to model one of her hand painted brooches - check these out at @khaosphilos, these are one of a kind wearable art.
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