A creamy, smooth, rich puréed soup with crunchy toppings sprinkled on top! The recipe uses simple, wholesome ingredients and is a perfect companion for a chilly, fall night.
Rinse them 2-3 times with warm water and add them to a pressure cooker.
Add 3.5 cups of water, salt, olive oil and garlic. Close the lid of the pressure cooker and cook on medium heat for about 15 minutes (4 whistles).
Turn off the heat. Don't open the lid and set it aside to cool down.
Soup prep
Heat olive oil in a pan.
Add cumin seeds, garlic and ginger. Sauté for 2 minutes.
Add red onions. Cook for 5-6 min on medium heat, until golden brown.
Add carrots and cook for about 4 minutes. Then add a can of diced tomatoes.
Cook tomatoes for 5-6 min and add cooked lentils to it.
Add garlic powder, red chilli powder, turmeric powder, black pepper, salt, garam masala and lime juice. Mix everything.
Turn off the heat and let the soup cool down for 5 minutes. Ladle the soup into the blender and pulse it until you get a smooth consistency.
Pour the blended soup back to the pan and let it simmer on low heat for 5-10 minutes.
Garnish with some whipped yogurt or cream and cilantro.
Serve hot with your favourite bread or croutons.
Notes
Using a Pressure Cooker:
For 1 cup of lentils, add 3.5 cups of water.
Never open the pressure cooker lid immediately after turning off the heat. Wait for a couple of minutes for the steam to settle down. Always check by lifting the whistle, if there is no steam escaping from the whistle you can proceed to open the lid.
If you don't have time to wait for the steam to settle down, you can always run the pressure cooker under cold water and then open the lid.
If you don't have a pressure cooker, you can boil the lentils in a pot. It will take more time to cook. Or you can buy canned lentils as well.
Blending Hot Food:
Always be careful while blending hot food as the blender can easily get pressurized with the steam.
Remove the centre cap of the lid of your blender.
Always blend in portions. Do not add too much hot liquid/food in the blender at once. Do not fill the blender more than halfway!
Cover the lid of the blender with a kitchen cloth and use the pulse mode to blend. This will prevent the hot liquid to splash.