An earthy soup of red lentils with coconut milk will brighten your table in these dreary days of November. In Paris, where’s its been gray and cold for weeks, we actually had November in October and now we’re having December in November. My neighbors across the way have already strung out their Christmas lights, and I’m seriously considering lighting a fire in the fireplace tonight. Just to create some cheer in this dismal season…
Soupe aux lentilles corail / Red lentil soup
The funny thing about red lentil soup is that neither the lentils nor the soup are actually red. The French for ‘red lentils’ — lentilles corail, or ‘coral lentils’ — is more accurate for the uncooked lentils. But when cooked they turn ochre, and in this recipe the addition of turmeric heightens the yellow. The soup is also flavored with fresh ginger, cumin, coriander, cayenne and coconut milk. Fresh cilantro adds another burst of flavor.
This healthy soup is similar to India’s masoor dal, but here the lentils are briefly pulsed — you pulse the pulses (sorry, couldn’t resist) — and you add the coconut milk. It makes a great lunch dish on a raw day, perhaps accompanied by a watercress salad (also vegan) or melted cheese on toast, or followed by roasted winter vegetables or a cauliflower gratin.
I was surprised just now to find that I have posted very few Indian-style recipes on this site. This is odd, because Indian cooking is very popular here at home and appears quite often on our table. My go-to book is Mahdur Jaffrey’s Indian Cookery, which was given to me many years ago by a British friend and is now out in an updated 40th anniversary edition. Favorite recipes include tandoori-style chicken, Gujerati carrot salad (with black mustard seeds, delicious), rogan josh (spicy lamb stew) and prawns with courgettes.
While I love Indian and other Asian cuisines, and post about them occasionally, most of the recipes here are French or French-inspired — because that’s what this site is about. Yet one need only walk the streets of Paris to see how passionately the French have embraced the food of other cultures. Within a 250-meter (yard) radius of my home, there are restaurants featuring the cuisines of Thailand, Italy, Spain, Korea, Japan, China, Vietnam, Russia, Cuba, the Antilles and, yes, India.
Very often these far-flung cuisines are presented with a French touch. Wine is always on offer, and the dishes follow each other in typical French style — starter, main course and dessert. The price of a three-course meal at lunchtime can be as low as 15 euros. In this chilly global season of conflict, I feel blessed to live in a city with such abundance and openness to things foreign — a city that, at least for now, remains at peace with the world.
Happy cooking.
