Lentils & Vegetables Soup

By Harini
The frequent change in climate often has its effect on us.Here in our place,whether change is unpredictable and my daughter caught up with cold.She is not much interested in eating and I just prepared a soup to induce her appetite.I first thought of making simple tomato soup,but then plans changed and made this lentil soup,packed with vegetables and lentil,a meal in itself.I made this on the lines of a soup recipe adapted from here,with quite a few changes.The soup turned out very flavorful and exotic.We had a very soothing and comforting breakfast with few toasts and this soup.Try this healthy and tasty soup for yourself to know what I mean :)

Lentils-vegetable soup
Star ingredients:Moong dal,potato,carrot
Time:30 minutes
Serves:3

Ingredients:
1/2 cup moong dal
1 large potato
2 carrots
1 small tomato
1/2 onion
2 cloves
3/4 milk
1/2 teaspoon pepper powder
1/2 teaspoon cumin powder
1 teaspoon butter
Salt
Method:
1.Pressure cook moong dal,potato and carrot until soft.Peel the carrots and potato.Mash the moong dal separately
2.Heat butter in the same cooker,add pepper powder,cumin powder,cloves and saute for a minute.Add tomato,onion and saute well till onion turns translucent.
3.Add the vegetables and saute for 3-4 minutes.
4.Now add the mashed moong dal and just saute for a minute.Remove from flame,once cooled puree the entire content without any lumps.
5.Add 1 1/2 cups of water to the puree and return to the stove.Add salt and bring to a boil.Add 3/4 cup milk and simmer for 5 minutes.
6.Add more salt and pepper if needed and serve with toast or croutons .
Notes:
1.You can garnish with basil or any dried herb if preferred
2.Add a dollop of fresh cream while serving to make it rich
3.You white pepper powder to make this soup even milder.