Curried Lentil Soup with Tomato

Last week, we went through some sort of time warp. We were thrust without warning from 100-degree days of summer excess to days so chilly and rainy and reminiscent of late fall that we debated turning on our furnaces. (For the record, mine went on almost immediately. I'm always cold anyway, so it only took a brief moment for me to make that decision.)

So I made the leap from sauteeing zucchini and making refreshing peach desserts - utilizing gorgeous end-of-summer bounty - to making standard cold-weather food. I woke up one morning and decided I wanted to make soup.

And so, I offer a recipe for one of my favorites. This comes together so quickly that I made it while I waited for my morning coffee to brew, and was able to bring it to work for lunch. The small orange lentils - rather than the larger brown or green ones - are the key ingredient; they cook down without any pre-soaking. The Numi Organic Toasted Rice tea bags (which I'd received as a gift in order to sample the product) added a subtle flavor to the soup, but they aren't essential if you don't have them.

Nutritious and delicious, this Curried Lentil Soup is supreme comfort food.

And there's even a lovely fresh tomato in it, for color and flavor. It's still officially summer, after all, even if that was hard to remember last week!

Curried Lentil Soup with Tomato

1 tablespoon ghee or butter
1-1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 teaspoon curry powder
1/2 teaspoon garam masala
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 small red onion, chopped
1 cup small orange lentils
3 cups water
2 Numi Organic Toasted Rice tea bags, optional (a lovely marketing gift!)
1 cup light coconut milk
1 tomato, chopped

Melt the ghee/butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add the salt, curry powder, garam masala and red pepper flakes; cook for 1 minute. Add the onion and cook for 1 minute. Add the lentils, water and tea bags; cover and bring to a boil, cooking for 5 minutes until the lentils are softening. Add the coconut milk and tomato; cover and simmer for 15 minutes until lentils are tender.

Serves 4.