If you have lived in Michigan for any amount of time, you know that Michigan weather can be a tease. This week, we had two fantastically warm sunny summer days where the weather hit 75 degrees F. And then, the day after, fall rolled back in, with a chilly 40 degrees, gray skies, and biting winds.
But, colder weather brings a generally well-loved food item back to dinner tables: soup. One of my favorite soups is tlokhih, a rich and satisfying yellow lentil soup flavored with curcum, or turmeric. Growing up, we mainly ate this soup on Fridays during Lent. My mom said that for her growing up, they really only ate the soup during soma, or periods of fasting. Whatever reason it was eaten, tlokhih or yellow lentil soup, is a cold weather favorite for me. It’s hearty, satisfying, and quite good for you.
Yellow Lentil Soup (Tlokhih)
Ingredients
- 1 cup yellow lentils
- 1/4 cup finely chopped onion
- 1.5 tsp turmeric
- 1 tsp curry powder
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- 4 cups stock or water more as needed
- salt, to taste
- pepper, to taste
Instructions
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Heat about one tablespoon of oil in a pot. Add the chopped onions and sprinkle with salt. Allow the onions to cook until translucent.
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Add the lentils to the pot and stir (the oil keeps the lentils from foaming over, so if you choose to cook the soup without onions, you will still want to add some oil to the lentils)
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Add the 4 cups of water or stock and let the lentils cook on medium, stirring occasionally to prevent the lentils from sticking to the bottom of the pot. Add more water as needed.
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When the lentils are cooked and nearly dissolved, add turmeric, curry, lemon, salt, and pepper.
[…] As I battled the winds back to my apartment, I kept thinking to myself, what do I want to cook? What did I want to eat? I was craving something warm and hearty. Soup could work. We had a squash that had been adorning our table for a few weeks. Butternut squash soup? Maybe. But I didn’t really have any other vegetables to add to it. Lentil soup sounded good. But I wanted to use the squash. Why not just mix the two together? Aha! Dinner would be butternut squash soup with lentils. Lentil soup is one of my all time favorites. When I was younger, I would always request lentil soup when we went out to eat at middle eastern restaurants. I loved dipping warm pita bread in the golden colored, hearty soup. If you’re a fan of lentils, you can check out my recipe for it here. […]
Can I use green lentils instead of yellow lentils?
Hi there! Green lentils won’t produce the same end result. Yellow lentils break down when cooked, which produces a creamy texture, almost as though the lentils had been pureed. Green lentils will get softer when cooked, but they retain their shape. If you’re looking for a recipe with green lentils, you could try mujadara, a blend of lentils and rice or bulgur with caramelized onions: https://www.boushala.com/2016/04/28/mujadara/