winter lentil soup

vegetarian

Today my friend Emily and I decided we needed some healthy vegetables after a fun weekend of dining out in Toronto with friends.  I scrounged my fridge and got some inspiration from the Clean Food cookbook to produce this warm hearty soup that's a meal in itself.

what you need:

• 1 large onion
• 3 cloves of garlic
• 1 large carrot
• 1/2 eggplant
• 1 medium sweet potato
• 4 cups lentils
• 1 can crushed tomatoes
• 1" x 1" piece of Kombu *optional
• 1 tbsp light soy sauce
• 1 tsp dark soy
• 1 tbsp molasses
• 2 heaping teaspoons of brown sugar
• 1 tbsp rice wine vinegar
• 1 1/2 tbsp cooking oil
• black pepper and salt (~a pinch)
• water
• cilantro & green onion (optional garnish)

what to do:

1. Prepare all vegetables by dicing them into small pieces.  Roughly chop garlic.
2. Place Kombu into warm water for about 10 minutes, then dice finely.
3. In a large pot on medium, heat up oil and add onions.  After sauteing them for 2 minutes, add garlic.  Saute for another 2 minutes, then add the diced carrots, eggplant, and sweet potato.  Stir and saute for a few minutes, then add the can of tomato and the lentils.  
4. Add water until it just covers the vegetables, and add the rest of the ingredients.  Cover and simmer for at least 1.5 hours, stirring every 15-20 minutes and adding water as needed (also depending on how thick you want your soup).
5. Serve hot with chopped cilantro and green onion for garnish.  Enjoy!

kombu is a type of seaweed with natural health benefits, and you won't even taste it in the soup
check out seaweed benefits  for more details