Naraya Cooking Health Recipe

Ingredients

• 1 cup lentils (french, beluga or green/brown)
• 1/2 cup quinoa
• 2 large carrots, diced 1/4"
• 2 stalks celery, diced
• 1 small onion, diced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 tablespoons grapeseed or olive oil or 1/4 cup water for water saute
• 1 can (15 oz) diced tomatoes (I used fire roasted) or 2 fresh tomatoes, diced
• 6-7 cups vegetable broth or water
• 2 - 3 bay leafs
• 2 teaspoons smoked sweet paprika (if using hot use 1 teaspoon or to taste)
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme or 1 tablespoon fresh 
• 1 teaspoon dried basil
• 1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
• mineral salt and pepper, to taste
• 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
• chopped parsley for garnish

Rinse your lentils well and pick through removing any oddly shaped or colored lentils. Rinse quinoa using a fine mesh strainer to remove any powdery residue.

In a large pot/dutch oven, heat olive oil over medium-high heat. Add onions, celery, carrots and garlic, saute for 5 minutes, until onions are tender. Add smoked paprika, cumin, thyme and nutmeg, cook until fragrant, about 1 - 2 minutes. Add in tomatoes, broth, lentils, quinoa, bay leaves, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil, cover, reduce heat and simmer for 40 minutes, stirring occasionally and tasting for flavor as you go. Once done, remove from heat, add balsamic vinegar and stir. Remove bay leaves before serving.

Spoon soup into serving dishes and top with chopped parsley.

You may like to serve this with some fresh homemade naan bread, like this one from Vegan Richa or this gluten free one from Golubka Kitchen

Soup serves 4 - 6

Notes:

Feel free to add 1 cup of quinoa instead of 1/2 cup. Just be sure to add the full 7 cups of liquids when cooking, adding more at the end if needed. You can also try using 1 1/2 cup lentils and 1/2 cup quinoa if you like.

For me, using a good vegetable broth in this soup was key to flavor. I used 4 cups of broth and 2 1/2 cups water.

Use 2 teaspoons of thyme if you don't have any dried basil on hand.

If you're a tomato lover, try using 1 can (28 oz) of diced tomatoes or 3-4 fresh tomatoes.

If you feel the soup is on the sweet side, add the juice of one lemon to cut the sweetness.

• 1 cup french lentils (beluga or puy), rinsed and picked over
• 2 bay leafs
• 3 cups water
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• bitter greens of choice (arugula, belgian endive, watercress, spinach, lacinato kale, escarole, dandelion to name a few)
• grape tomatoes, halved
• scallions or shallots, sliced
• mineral salt, to taste
• fresh cracked pepper, to taste

Lemon Dijon Balsamic Vinaigrette

• 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil 
• 1 tablespoon white or dark balsamic vinegar (I used white)
• 2 teaspoons dijon mustard (whole grain is great too)
• juice of one small lemon

Ingredients (serves 6)

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 onion, diced
• 5 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 - 2 tablespoons fresh ginger, minced
• 1 - 2 tablespoons curry, to taste
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• 1 teaspoon turmeric
• himalayan salt to taste
• 1 tablespoons red pepper flakes, optional 
• 1 can (15 oz) fire roasted tomatoes or two cups fresh tomatoes, diced
• 2 cups dry red lentils, rinsed and picked over
• 1 1/2 cups cooked garbanzo beans or 1 can (15 oz) garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed
• 6 cups water or vegetable broth, + more as needed
• 3 cups kale, julienned
• juice of one lemon, optional
• cooked basmati, brown or jasmine rice, as much as needed

In large pot or stock pot, heat your oil over medium heat, saute onion and garlic until onion becomes transparent. Add spices, tomatoes, lentils, garbanzo beans and 6 cups of liquids, bring to a boil, cover, reduce heat and simmer for about 30 minutes. Add in the kale and optional lemon juice, continue to cook for 10 minutes or until kale softens and wilts.

Serve alone, over rice or grain of choice...

Ingredients

Loaf
1 cup dry lentils (use green/brown)
2 1/2 cups water or vegetable broth
3 tablespoons flaxseed meal (ground flaxseeds)
1/3 cup water (6 tablespoons)
2 tablespoons olive oil for sauteing or steam saute using 1/4 cup water
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 small onion, finely diced
1 small red bell pepper, finely diced
1 carrot, finely diced or grated
1 celery stalk, finely diced
3/4 cup oats (I used GF oats)
1/2 cup oat flour or finely ground oats (any flour of choice will work here too)
1 heaping teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 heaping teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon each garlic powder & onion powder...for good measure!
1/4 - 1/2 teaspoon ground chipotle pepper, optional
cracked pepper & sea salt to taste

Glaze
3 tablespoons organic ketchup
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon pure maple syrup

• 1 cup red lentils (if using green/brown, see notes)
• 4 cups water or vegetable broth
• 1 tablespoon olive or grapeseed oil or 3 tablespoons water (for water saute)
• 2 medium yellow onions, diced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tablespoon ginger, minced
• 3-4 medium tomatoes, diced or 1 can (28oz) diced tomatoes, drained
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• 1 teaspoon coriander
• 1 teaspoon turmeric
• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon mineral salt, or to taste