Curried Butternut Squash, Red Lentil and Noodle Soup

I woke early at about 7:30 in the mood to cook something but not really sure what. I dithered about in the kitchen for a few hours, leafing through cookbooks while having my tea and toast. I noticed the butternut squash that had been sitting on my kitchen table for the past week and a half that I decided I was going to use but not sure how. At first I was going to make a raw grated butternut salad but as I was peeling the thing (not fun), my comfort food monster came out and decided to chop it all up and make soup instead. I followed the butternut squash and red lentil soup recipe from 1,000 Vegan Recipes and added cut vermicelli at the end to up the comfort food factor. The ginger, curry powder and cumin flavors are warming and delicious and the noodles make it extra good.

Ok, bear with me...

I know I haven't posted a lot in the past weeks so I apologize in advance that the photo you are going to see in this post is of the poorest quality. I just had my house fumigated you see, and after moving back in tonight after work, I was desperate for a warm and quick meal. I rooted through all my double bagged pantry goods and came up with red lentils, spices, vermicelli noodles, an onion and garlic. This is what I made, which is my take on a middle eastern lentil and noodles soup. Try it, it's so comforting and delicious! I was in such a hurry to eat, I forgot to take a photo of my bowl, so you'll see a pic of the leftovers at the end of this post.

Lentils and Noodles

1/2 cup red lentils, rinsed
4 cups water
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 can diced tomatoes, drained
1 tsp. cumin (I couldn't find my cumin so I used garam masala, which is an indian mixed spice blend of cumin, cinnamon, cardamom and cloves. Hey at least there's cumin in it!)
1 tsp yellow curry powder
1/3 cup vermicelli noodles, broken up
1/2 onion, chopped
olive oil
salt and pepper to taste.

Place lentils, water and garlic in a pot and bring to a boil. Lower heat and let simmer until lentils get soft. In the meantime, saute the chopped onion in olive oil until nice and browned. Add the cooked onions, tomatoes, spices and noodles to the lentils and simmer on medium low until noodles are done. Stir as you go so nothing sticks to the bottom of the pot. Season with salt and pepper. The soup will thicken up as it sits. You can eat this on it's own or on top of rice with a squeeze of lemon.


Picture of my leftovers that had been sitting for a while.