Vegan Curried Lentil Soup

Okay. So lentil soup isn't really something that needs to be changed for my dietary restrictions. However, being a college student, I did have to change/omit a few things from the recipe due to a lack of...resources, to say the least :]

So my friend Rena (who is staying with me at college for a week or two) and I were just dillydallying around when we realized that though it was 11 PM, we hadn't had dinner yet. (aka. preoccupied with bananagrams :x) I had planned to make some breaded tilapia with a dijon mustard and mayo sauce but then realized I didn't have enough fillets to fill the both of us. Looking to add something more filling, I reached into my college cupboard filled with non-perishables, pulled out a bag of green lentils, and immediately though of soup. We pondered if curry would go with lentils and ended up Googling this Curried Lentil Soup recipe.

Because it's currently a winter wonderland outside and neither of us have a car, we had to make due with the ingredients we had in the house. So a medium carrot became a bunch of chopped baby carrots, garlic cloves were replaced with a LOT of garlic powder (though it probably would've tasted amazing with real garlic), and a medium onion translated into 3 small cooking onions. The green onions and wedged lemons were omitted due to a lack of resources and the sheer lack of desire to garnish our dishes. And even though the recipe is scaled to yield 6 servings, that just means leftovers for tomorrow! Also, no food processor? No problem. Bring a friend and a potato masher.

(Thanks Rena. Those chickpeas didn't see what hit em :P )

Curried Lentil Soup - Yields about 6 servings

Ingredients:

3 tbsp olive oil, divided
3 small cooking onions, chopped
2 handfuls of baby carrots (or 1 medium carrot), finely chopped
1 tbsp of garlic powder (or 1 clove of garlic, chopped)
2 1/2 tbsp of curry powder
1 cup of green lentils

5 cups of water, divided
1 15.5 can of chickpeas (garbanzo beans), drained, rinsed
1 1/2 tbsp lemon juice
2 tbsp of margarine or replace with olive oil
some salt and pepper to taste

Directions
1. In a large pot over medium heat, heat 1 tbsp of olive oil. Add onions and carrots. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Cook until onion is translucent, stirring occasionally for about 4 minutes. If you have garlic instead of garlic powder, add it in now. If not, keep heating until the carrots are starting to soften.
2. Add 2 1/2 tbsp of curry powder and stir for about a minute, until it is evenly dispersed.
3. Add lentils and 4 cups of water. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Increase heat until boiling, then reduce heat to medium to simmer until lentils are tender (about 30 minutes).
4. As the lentils are simmering, mash the chickpeas, lemon juice, 1/4 cup of water, 2 tbsp of olive oil, margarine (or extra olive oil), and garlic powder (if you didn't use garlic cloves) until most of the chickpeas have basically turned into hummus...although I personally don't mind having chickpea chunks in my soup.
5. Add your chickpea puree to the simmering soup and stir until puree is evenly distributed. Season to taste with salt and curry powder. Add water to change consistency if needed.

So yummy...and now I have leftovers! Yay! Went pretty well with the tilapia :]