Lentil Soup with Coconut Milk and Garam Masala

So, it's a week into April, and this is what I woke up to yesterday morning-- fresh snow.  We're well into Breakup (the season between Winter and Spring when everything melts and becomes a big, muddy mess) but Winter wanted to remind us that it's the dominant season around here.  

Some folks were frustrated by the new snow, but I'm OK with it.  The ski trails are in fantastic shape, and it gives me one more opportunity to cook up some hearty winter meals-- like this lentil soup.

I got the recipe for this lentil soup from one of the women in my Dining for Women group.  Dining for Women is a national organization, and I started attending the Fairbanks meals this past fall.  The focus of the organization is bringing together groups of women to share a monthly meal to support organizations around world that empower women.  Instead of going out for a meal, a member hosts a potluck, and we donate the money that would have otherwise been spent at a restaurant to the selected organization.  Dining for Women selects the organizations and provides us with a short video about the organization that we are supporting.  So, we do our best to make dishes from that country (or region).  Caitlyn brought this lentil soup for October's dinner which supported The Unforgotten Fund in Pune, India.

Fairbanks Dining for Women group

Lentil Soup with Coconut Milk and Garam Masala

Ingredients
4 cups broth (chicken or vegetable) or bouillon cubes

2 cups water

2 cups lentils

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

1 onion

4 garlic cloves

1 tablespoon fresh ginger

2 teaspoons garam masala

1 (14-oz) can coconut milk

salt and pepper, to taste

For garnish

1/2 cup fresh cilantro

2-3 tomatoes 

Directions
Finely chop the onion, garlic, and ginger.

If using bouillon instead of broth, dissolve the bouillon into 4 cups of water in large stock pot.

Combine broth, water, and lentils in the pot. 

Bring to a boil, and then reduce to simmer.  Simmer until lentils are soft.

Heat oil in a skillet over medium-high heat and add onion.  Cook until soft and lightly browned.

Add the garlic, ginger, and garam masala.

 Cook to release the flavors, about 1 minute. 

Add the onion mixture to the cooked lentils.

Stir in the coconut milk.  Bring to a simmer and cook until lentils soup is thickened, about 15 minutes.

 

Salt and pepper to taste.  When serving, garnish with cilantro chopped tomatoes.

Southwest Corn Chowder

Sometimes I meet really neat people and I think to myself... "Wow, I totally want to be friends with them."  Such was the case when I met Jessica and Bryan. 

And since I wanted to hang out with them and I had been hungry for this corn chowder for awhile, I invited them over for dinner... They gladly obliged and brought the wine.

With this recipe, I used the oregano-infused olive oil that I made with the oregano from my garden this summer.  Basically, I just filled a glass jar with fresh oregano and crush garlic cloves, filled it with olive oil, and then patiently let the flavors meld.

Southwest Corn Chowder

Ingredients
olive oil
4-6 cloves of garlic
1 onion
2 cans of corn
1 New Mexico green chili pepper
1 Poblano pepper
~3 cups water or (vegetable or chicken stock)
1 tbsp oregano
1 tsp cumin
2-3 small potatoes
1/2 of a red and orange bell pepper, each
1 tbsp lime juice
2 c heavy cream (or half & half)
salt and pepper, to taste
fresh cilantro (for garnish)
plain yogurt or sour cream (for garnish)

Directions
Chop the onion and garlic.

Heat 1-2 tablespoons of olive oil in a large pot.  Add the garlic, onion and 1 1/2 cans of corn (set aside the last bit of corn to be added later).

Cook until the onions become translucent.

Remove the seeds and chop the New Mexican green chili and Poblano peppers.

Add the chopped peppers, oregano, and cumin to the pot.

 

Add enough water (or vegetable or chicken broth) to cover the mixture, approximately 3 cups or so. Simmer for 20 minutes.

While the soup is simmering, dice the small potatoes and bell peppers, seeds removed.  In a separate pot, bring some water to a boil and boil the diced potatoes for 2 minutes.

Add the diced bell peppers and boil for an additional 2 minutes. Then, drain the water off the potatoes and peppers.

Using a hand blender (or regular blender), purée the soup.

Stir in the lime juice.

Stir in the heavy cream (or half & half).

Add salt and pepper, to taste.

Add in the remaining corn, potatoes, and bell peppers.

Serve with cilantro and plain yogurt (or sour cream).

A locally grown fall feast amongst friends-- curried carrot soup, kale, and salmon

I have this group of friends that meets a few times a year where we gather in one home and spend the evening cooking, dining, hanging out, and catching up.  With everyone's busy lives, it usually takes us a few weeks to find an evening that works for everyone.

For at least a year or two, we were on an eggplant kick where we would pick a different cuisine and build a meal around some sort of eggplant dish-- grilled eggplant, baba ganoush, moussaka, eggplant in black bean sauce, and even an African dish of some kind... I don't even remember some of the other ones.  It's amazing how versatile eggplant is!  But then *one of us* decided that she didn't really like eggplant that much, so now we pick a different theme for each meal.  For our latest feast, we decided to focus on locally grown food, so we had curried carrot soup, wild Alaskan salmon, and sautéed kale.

While Johnny, Kelly, and I were busy in the kitchen, Jenny and Brent entertained the kiddos.

While Alaska is famous for its salmon and ginormous pumpkins, I don't think that people Outside realize what amazing carrots are grown under the Alaskan midnight sun.  With our short, intense growing season, we've got these delicious sweet carrots.  I always make sure to stock up on at least 20 pounds of Spinach Creek Farm's carrots just before the close of the farmer's market-- around the middle of September.   They actually stay surprisingly crispy in the fridge for months, but sadly, my stash is already almost gone.

Kale is quite hardy, so it grows well here since our growing season is quite short and we can get hard freezes as early as August.  In fact, when I has harvesting kale for this dish, I found pellets of ice on some of the kale and the temperature hadn't reached above freezing in a few days.
 
Curried Carrot Soup

Ingredients
Olive oil
1 large onion
big bunch of carrots
~ 1 heaping tbsp of curry powder
salt and pepper
1 can of coconut milk

Directions

Chop the onion, it's OK if it's coarsely chopped since the soup will be pureed later.

Heat a a bit of olive oil in the bottom of a pot and had the onion.

Once the onions are soft, add the curry powder.

Johnny adds some fresh ground pepper to the pot.

Chop the carrots into smallish-sized chunks and add to the pot.

Kelly adds some water to the pot (or broth also works well).

Simmer the carrots until they are tenders.

 

Using an immersion blender, purée the soup.

 

Add the can of coconut milk.

 

 Stir in the coconut milk and serve.

Kelly's Decadent Salmon

Ingredients

wild Alaskan salmon

Marinade
1/2 cup olive oil
1/2 dry vermouth
1 tbsp lime juice
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp parsley
thyme
ground pepper

Butter
1 stick of butter
1 tbsp lime juice
2 tsp sesame oil
2 tsp minced fresh ginger
1 tsp lime zest


Directions

Johnny fillets the salmon.

Kelly mixed up the ingredients in the marinade.

Kelly pours the marinade over the salmon.

Covered with aluminum foil, bake at 400° F until done (~15 minutes or so).

Once the salmon is cooked, spread the butter mixture over the top of it and let it infuse it.

Sautéed Kale

Ingredients
~ 1 tbsp of olive oil
3-4 cloves of garlic
~ 1 tsp of sesame oil
~ 1 tbsp of soy sauce
handfuls of kale

Directions

Over a medium high heat, add the oil.  Once it's hot, add the garlic.

Brown the garlic until it's slightly crispy.

Add in a few handfuls of kale.  It will cook down quite a bit.

Once the kale is beginning to wilt and turns a shinier green, drizzle the sesame oil and soy sauce.  Stir in before serving.

Finally all the components of the meal are ready to go-- the soup, the salmon, and kale... plus Jenny & Brent brought a saffron rice dish to serve with the meal.  Yum!

And the evening really isn't complete until at least one of us ends up on the floor from laughing too hard.