Insights
The season of winter means it’s also soup season for those in cooler climates. The good thing about colder weather is it provides ample time for a dish that is so beloved. Soup can warm our core on a chilly day, nourish a sick body, or provide our taste buds with some fun, salty, and savory flavors. Seriously, what’s not to like?
Many soups can be made in large batches and frozen for later. This curried cauliflower soup with quick cooking Timeless Natural Food® Harvest Gold Lentils is a golden delicious recipe that is an amazing option to have the day you make it or to save for chilly days to come. Those Harvest Gold Lentils provide great viscosity in the dish, a bump of protein, nice sunshiny color, and a lovely flavor.
One key to enhancing the flavor is to roast the cauliflower in the oven prior to adding it to the soup. That slight browning process softens the vegetable and concentrates its taste as the spices get baked into it. We like to save some of the smaller bits that get the most browning and reserve those for putting on top of the soup.
The recipe uses the generic “curry powder” you can find in any spice aisle, which isn’t very hot on the heat level and brings good flavor and color to the culinary equation. But if you feel comfortable venturing out, you can substitute in a variety of masala blends that can bring unique flavor profiles. The fresher the better when it comes to spices!
This soup is both vegan and gluten free if you opt for vegetable broth and forgo the cream-based topping, but non-vegans will hardly think they are missing anything. You will love how the flavor builds with each spoonful. That bit of lemon brings some brightness that you will appreciate as well.
Curried Cauliflower Soup:
Half head of large cauliflower (roughly 20 oz of cauliflower in the soup)
1 ½ tbsp curry powder
1 lemon
1 medium size onion
1 tbsp fresh garlic
1 tsp turmeric
32 oz vegetable or chicken broth
½ cup yellow lentils
1 ½ cup water
Kosher salt and pepper
Olive or vegetable oil
Optional for Topping:
1/3 cup sour cream
1/3 cup cream
Serves 4-6 people
Line a baking sheet with foil and preheat your oven to 400ºF on convection. Slice the cauliflower into pieces no larger than 3-4 inches. There will be some smaller bits that break off, which is fine.
Toss and coat the pieces in 2-3 tbsp of oil, 1 tbsp of curry powder, 1 tsp kosher salt, some freshly cracked pepper.
Place on the baking tray and cook for 20 minutes. Pull it out and use tongs to flip the pieces of cauliflower.
Roast another 15-20 minutes, until there is a bit of browning happening around the edges. Reserve a few of the smallest, crunchy bits of cauliflower for the top of your soup.
While that is roasting, chop the onion and garlic. Preheat a large saucepan or Dutch oven to medium heat. In 2 tbsp of oil, sauté the onions until soft while stirring occasionally. After 7-8 minutes, add the garlic, turmeric, ½ tbsp of curry powder, and cook for another two minutes.
Add the broth, lentils, roasted cauliflower, and water and bring to a boil. Once it reaches a boil, lower the temperature to simmer the soup with the lid on (but slightly cracked) for 20-30 minutes, until lentils are cooked and cauliflower is tender. Use an immersion blender to make the soup smooth in texture.
Add the juice of a half of a lemon and taste to see if you need to adjust with more salt, pepper, or lemon juice.
If you opt to go with the discretionary topping, combine the cream and sour cream together and put little dollops on top of the soup or use a squeeze bottle to spread it around. Finally, place any of the leftover cauliflower bits on top.