Orange Ginger Coconut Curry Lentil Soup

Tonight for dinner I wanted to make a warming and spicy soup, which I often find helpful for colds and congestion. This recipe is pretty amazing! It has a complex and unusual mixture of flavors- both sweet and savory with a nice texture that is rich and satisfying. I used arugula as the green in my soup since I have a ton of it growing in my garden and wanted to use some up. I don't know if I mentioned this in a post before, but I really love using arugula as a green in soup; you can just stir it in at the end, as it only needs a couple of minutes to cook.
Sorry I didn't get a better picture of the soup, but as you can see, it is quite nice served with a crispy green salad and a little whole grain bread.

Orange Ginger Coconut Curry Lentil Soup

adapted from sproutedkitchen.com who adapted it from The Travelers Lunchbox who adapted it from Once Upon a Tart

1 Tbsp. oil

1 large yellow onion, diced

2 cloves garlic, finely chopped

1 1 inch piece of fresh ginger, peeled and finely chopped

1/2 tsp. cardamom

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

pinch of red pepper flakes to taste

pinch of nutmeg

1 1/2 cup green lentils

6 cups vegetable broth (I used 3 boullion cubes disolved in 6 cups of water)

1 1/2 tsp. muchi curry powder

2 tsp. dried thyme

1 can coconut milk

a few large handfuls of arugula, swiss chard, or spinach, torn or chopped if leaves are large

3 Tbsp. orange juice

Start a kettle of water heating on the stove if you will be disolving boullion cubes for broth.

Heat the oil in a soup pot. Add the onion and garlic and saute until softened. Add the ginger, cardamom, cinnamon, pinch of red pepper flakes and pinch of nutmeg and saute another minute. If spices stick to pan, you can add a little water from your kettle to mix them back into the onions. Scrape onion mixture into bowl and set aside.

Add the lentils, broth, thyme and curry powder to the soup pot. Bring to a boil, turn down to a simmer and cook for about 20 minutes or until lentils are tender.

Add the onion mixture to the lentils and stir, keeping the heat on a low simmer.

Add the coconut milk and greens and simmer another few minutes, stirring occasionally until just wilted. Taste for salt and spice and add as you prefer. Finish with the orange juice and serve warm.