Vegetable-Lentil Low Cal Soup

Vegetable-Lentil Low Cal Soup

To a foodie like me the word ‘low-cal’ brings to mind the words tasteless, insipid and ‘NO’. When I tried this soup I was proved totally wrong. Here’s a low cal soup recipe that’s truly yummy but don’t take my word for it. Give it a shot and check it out for yourself. It’s healthy and it fills you up when you’re on a diet. A soup-stick or two with it turns it into a full meal. I kid you not!!

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons split red lentil/orange masoor dal, wash and soak for 20 minutes

1 small 2” aubergine/egg plant/baingan, chopped into 4 pieces

2 inch piece bottle gourd/dodhi, chopped into 6 pieces

½ - 1 carrot, peeled and chopped

2 spinach leaves, washed and roughly torn into 2-3 pieces

½ -1 green chili, chop into two pieces

1 onion, roughly chopped

1 tomato, roughly chopped

2 cloves garlic

1/8^th teaspoon mustard seeds

1/8^th teaspoon cumin seeds

3 curry leaves

Salt, to taste

Pepper powder, to taste

Few sprigs coriander leaves, finely chopped

Lime juice, to taste (optional)

Method:

1. Heat a pan and lightly dry roast the mustard, cumin and curry leaves for a minute till a nice aroma rises. Do not burn it.
2. In a pressure cooked add the dal, aubergine, bottle gourd, carrot, spinach leaves, green chili, onion, tomato, garlic, roasted seed mixture and salt.
3. Add 2 to 2½ cups of water and pressure cook for 2 whistles. Lower flame and cook for 2 more minutes and shut off the stove.
4. Open cooker when all the pressure releases and when mixture is lukewarm, grind the soup in a grinder.
5. Add pepper powder to taste and adjust salt if needed. Reheat and add finely chopped coriander and lime juice (optional) just before serving.
6. Serve with baked croutons or soup sticks. 

Chef Notes: 

1. You can add a piece of chicken to enhance the flavor of the soup. I’m a hard-core non-vegetarian and yet I don’t feel the need to add chicken because the soup by itself is so flavorsome and delicious. If you do use chicken, please remember to remove the piece of chicken before you grind the soup. Re-add it after you puree the soup.
2. Instead of split red lentil/orange masoor dal you can also make this with split red gram/tur dal. 
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