Coconut Red Lentil Soup with Cilantro + Curry Mustard Oil

a satisfying spice-filled weeknight dinner

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It’s officially spring, here in Northern California. Driving around you can’t help but take in the beauty of the earth awakening from its winter slumber this time of year. Dotting the roadsides are bright yellow sour grass, sunny-faced daffodils, and plum trees blanketed with blooms. The hillsides are bursting with green as far as the eye can see and there’s a sweetness in the air. It’s a truly magical time that lasts for what feels like only a moment before we head into the dry season of summer and fall. 

The days here are mild. Usually, the temperature is somewhere in the 50’s or 60’s and sunny enough to start craving salads and lighter foods for lunch. By dinnertime, however, the cool coastal breeze moves in and it’s back to sweaters, fires, and comfort foods. 

This week was no exception on the comfort food front. I wanted a quick meal that hit all the marks—filing, only took one pot to make, and had lots of toppings. Luckily, I already had red lentils soaking for a few hours to give myself an option for dinner. I know you don’t technically *need* to soak split lentils, but I do anyway. 

Soaking grains or beans is really helpful when it comes to dinner prep. Even if you’re not sure what you’re going to do with them, you can’t go wrong with soaking them for a few hours or even overnight. Not only does soaking help to make these “seeds” easier to digest and to assimilate their nutrients, but it saves a lot of time in the cooking process. 

On the topic of saving time, there are a few foolproof pantry staples that help me whip up easy and satisfying meals in under an hour. Here are some of my tips you can easily implement before we get into the recipe. 

1. Keep your spices or spice blends stocked - Having these on hand means I know my meals will get lots of flavors, plus digestive supportive benefits since all spices are enzymatic and they help us to digest and assimilate our food easier. A win-win! Some of my go-to’s that are always on my spice shelf are cinnamon, cardamom, fennel, cumin, cardamom, black pepper, turmeric, dill, thyme, clove, smoked paprika, and nutmeg. I always love to have blends like curry, garam masala, or berbere. Spice blends are a great way to sneak in powdered adaptogenic herbs, too. Sometimes I’ll add in astragalus, ashwagandha, shatavari, or maca depending on what kind of support I need. 

2. Add big flavors to your pantry - I always make sure to keep ingredients like coconut milk, canned tomatoes, tomato paste, vinegar, tamari, and citrus on hand so I can easily make most recipes. These are the ingredients I tend to use the most when building a dressing, sauce, soup, or stew. You probably have some other ingredients that are in constant rotation, so it’s always a good idea to stock up on your next grocery store run. 

3. Learn a few base recipes - Okay, this might be the most important tip of all about creating nourishing and easy-to-make meals. You don’t need to reinvent the wheel every time you cook. Learn a few tried and true recipes that you feel confident making, then swap out some of the main ingredients to change it up a bit. For example, you could make a sweet potato or squash version of this recipe that would be just as delicious. You could also swap out the lentils for chickpeas or green lentils. For me, it’s more about the feeling I’m trying to satisfy when making a dish rather than the exact recipe I need to follow. It can be helpful to think about what kind of meal you’re going after. Are you wanting something that’s hearty? Light? Spicy? Warming? Nostalgic? Let your base recipe be the framework while your feeling allows you to tune into your creativity throughout the process. 

For this soup, I wanted something that was warming, had lots of spices, and was a bit creamy—along with what I mentioned earlier about being filing, only using one pot, and having lots of toppings. Because I had my lentils ready to go, I thought a dal would do the trick. There are lots of different variations of the Indian dal dishes. Dal refers to not only lentils but also lentil-based dishes, like the red lentils (or Masoor Dal) I’m using here. Depending on what you’ve got stocked in the kitchen, you can use swap out the lentils or other legumes, chard for other greens, add in tomatoes if you’d like, or heavy cream if you don’t have coconut milk handy. 

Okay, last things! Having a good squeeze of citruses like lemon, lime, or even orange really makes this dish come alive. The Curry Mustard Oil adds lots of flavor, plus you’ll have extra oil to drizzle on grains, beans, or roasted veggies throughout the week. If you don’t have mustard seeds, swap for whole fennel, cumin, or coriander seeds instead. I wouldn’t skimp on the citrus or the oil if you can avoid it, otherwise, I think you’re going to make this soup again and again.

You can find the recipe below or for easy access, you can download it here.

Coconut Red Lentil Soup with Cashews + Curry Mustard Oil 

Ingredients

2 tablespoons olive oil, ghee, butter, or coconut oil

1 onion, diced 

2 cloves garlic, minced

1-2 tablespoons garam masala or curry powder 

1-inch knob fresh ginger, grated or minced 

2 cups red lentils, soaked overnight and drained

8 cups water or broth 

1 can full-fat coconut milk, with cream on top reserved 

2 bay leaves 

1 bunch Swiss chard or kale 

1 bunch cilantro, stems finely chopped and leaves roughly chopped 

Juice of 2 limes, plus more for serving 

Salt to taste 

Toppings:

Cilantro leaves

Toasted cashews 

Coconut cream 

Lime wedge 

In a heavy-bottomed pot, melt the oil or fat over medium heat. Toss in onions and saute until translucent and just beginning to brown about 5-7 minutes. Add the garlic, garam masala or curry powder, ginger, and season with salt, stirring to coat the onions. Next, add in the lentils, water, coconut milk, and bay leaves and bring to a simmer. Let the lentils cook for about 20 minutes or until they are tender. Add more liquid if needed. While the soup is simmering, de-stem the chard and finely chop the stems, roughly chop the leaves, and set aside. In the last 5 minutes of cooking, gently stir in the lime juice, swiss chard and most of the cilantro, reserving about ¼ cup cilantro leaves for serving. Turn off the heat and add more salt or lime if needed. To serve, ladle into bowls and top with a dollop of coconut cream, cilantro leaves, toasted cashews, curry mustard oil and a lime wedge. 

For the Curry Mustard Oil 

½ cup coconut oil 

1 tablespoon curry powder 

½ tablespoon mustard seeds 

1 tablespoon freshly grated ginger 

Salt to taste 

In a skillet or small sauce-pot, melt the coconut oil and spices over medium-low heat. Cook until you can hear the mustard seeds popping then remove from the heat. Season with salt and use to add extra flavor to soups, stews, grains, or vegetables.