Lemon lentil soup

Warm yellow color, tangy taste, nice aroma, hm... whenever, I think of  lemon, I will go into my own lemony world.

Long long ago, my mami had a small lemon tree in her backyard, but it used to yield lots of lemons. Best example for the tamizh saying 'மூர்த்தி சிறுசு கீர்த்தி பெரிசு'. My mami's home was my summer holidays abode and I have sweet memories of that lemon tree and its fresh offerings. Poor thing, it had to make way when my mami's house was expanded. It is still a conversation starter when we all get together.

Coming to our story, I bought a dozen of big lemons and enjoyed all my favorite recipes, lemon rice, lemon sevai, lemon rasam, etc. Last week, when I was browsing, this recipe caught my eyes and when I fully read, it sounded more similar to our south Indian dish. One second I stopped reading and asked myself, am I reading the soup or sambar? Wanted to give it a try.

I found this recipe in Oprah.com. Tried this lemon lentil soup with a little twist and it tasted perfect. You can find the original recipe here.

Ingredients : Serves - 6 person 2 cup -- cooked lentil*** 1 cup -- mixed vegetables chopped 2 tbsp -- Tomato puree 1 no -- Onion, medium size chopped 2 tbsp -- Olive oil 2 clove -- Garlic lemon juice from half a lemon Fresh cilantro Salt and pepper to taste *** In the original recipe Oprah have used red lentil, I used the left over dal I had in the fridge, Combination of toor dal and the moong dal Method: --- Take a sauce pan with the olive oil and turn the heat to medium. --- Add onions, garlic and saute them in the oil for few minutes, Add the vegetables and cook until the vegetables become tender. --- You can use any vegetables, I used carrots, beans and squash. --- Once the vegetables become soft, now its time to add our cooked lentil, tomato puree. Add them to the vegetables and cook for 3-5 minutes. Let the mixture to cool a little. --- Transfer the whole mixture to the blender and pulse the mixture for few times. We neither want the vegetables to grind fully or big chunks. --- Pour the grind mixture in the pan again and add 2-3 cups of water depending upon the consistency. --- Turn the heat to medium and add pepper,salt and lemon juice. And cook for 3 minutes, just to bring the flavour to the soup. --- Finally add the chopped cilantro for color and taste.

Rich in protein, lots of vegetables and lemony flavour. Serve this soup with little cheese on top and along with the Garlic bread. I assure you that you will love this combination.