Lentils Soup With Poached Eggs

Nothings healthy than a bowl of lentil soup and it becomes healthier when you add poached eggs to it! This humble lentil soup will spice up your palette, warm your soul and get you through those gloomy cold days of winter.

Since I am always on health sprees, I am constantly making a conscious effort to keep my food healthy, sometimes gluten free. This lentil bowl soup fits all those needs! If you are on one of those detox diets I would highly recommend this recipe, you can just skip the eggs.

In Tokyo one of my healthy cuisine menus had this recipe, Mulligatawny soup, an English soup but originated in India! I always made it on cold winter days and my students used love it and absolutely raved about it. It’s a shame there is no cold neither winter here in Singapore but oye you don’t need an excuse of a good weather to eat a bowl of soup, right?

Traditionally the Mulligatawny soup is served with chicken dumplings but I served it with poached eggs. It’s my take on a traditional Mulligatawny soup, it’s gluten free and it’s healthy, albeit I have kept it vegetarian, you can easily make it vegan, perhaps leave the butter and cream and replace it with coconut oil and milk or cream. To give that nutty, umami flavour you can add some nutritional yeast to the soup.

Do give this recipe a try!

Ingredients:

• 1 cup mung lentils
• 1 litre water or vegetable stock or chicken stock
• 1 onion finely chopped
• 2 tomatoes (whole)
• 2 or to taste green chillies
• 1 apple peeled and cut in cubes
• 1 small carrot peeled and cut in cubes
• 2 whole garlic cloves
• 2 garlic cloves finely chopped
• 7-8 black peppercorns
• 1 tbsp coriander stems
• Black pepper powder, red chilli powder (Cayenne) and salt to taste.
• 1 tsp garam masala
• A big pinch of nutmeg, cardamom and cinnamon powder
• 1 tbsp butter and 1 tsp oil.
• Freshly chopped coriander
• Poached egg, coriander and slivered almonds for garnishing.

Directions:

Wash the lentils for 2-3 minutes. Place the lentils, whole tomatoes, green chillies, apple, carrot and 2 garlic cloves in a pressure cooker. Add in some salt and half of the water or stock. Close the pressure cooker and give 3 whistles or bring it to full pressure and then turn the heat down. Cook for 20 minutes on low pressure. You can boil the lentils with all the vegetables in a pot with some more water till the lentils are completely cooked. May take 30-45 minutes.

In a large sauce pot heat butter and oil together. Add in the peppercorns, onions, 2 chopped garlic cloves and sauté for about 3-4 minutes or till the onion becomes light pink in colour. Now add in the coriander stems and sauté for another minute. Add in the red chilli pepper, black pepper powder and all the spice powders.

Now add in the cooked lentil and vegetables mixture. Add rest of the water. Stir it well and cover the pot. Simmer for 10 minutes till the soup spoon coat the back of the spoon.

Now turn off the heat and using an immersion blender make a purée. 

Add some water if the consistency is too thick for you. Adjust salt if needed.

Garnish with an poached egg, almonds (optional) and coriander! Serve hot!