Bowl of wholesome Spring lentil veggie Soup goodness! Ahhhh, it’s Spring – and such a beautiful, lush and refreshing Spring season it has been so far here in Australia right now too!

In Ayurveda, seasonal change is considered a magical and potent time of the year for giving extra love and nurturing to our beautiful bodies and from a digestion point of view – to focusing on foods that are ‘light’, ‘warm’ and ‘easy-to digest’, so that our body can devote energy to it’s natural seasonal change processes of cleansing, adjusting and aligning for the next season ahead!

So, when it comes to giving the body a little extra space, energy and warmth-filled-loving goodness to support our digestion and our immune system during seasonal change… the solution is Souper Simple! (I just had to go there! hehe) …If that pun didn’t give it away, the solution is, drumroll, yes you guessed it… Soups! Soups my friend are our Seasonal transition best-friend, and are a beautiful way to incorporate the potent, nourishing and ‘deliciousafying’ qualities of healing Ayurvedic kitchen spices and herbs into our cooking too – for literal added goodness!

In seasonal Soup fashion ~ I have personally been living off Soups in my Kitchen lately, since the seasonal change, making some of my staple go-to healing soup favourites from my E-book, as well as creating some fresh new yummy Soupy-goodness filled recipes and today I am so excited to be sharing one of my favourites at the moment, with you!

The Soupy downlo’ on this fresh new recipe…

If you have my E-book, you’ll see that this recipe is very similar to the ‘Sunshine Veggie Soup’ recipe in there that you are most likely familiar with (I think it is THE most commented upon recipe from the book! It’s popular, and for good reason!) It’s definitely one of my all time favourite go-to’s as it is not only packed with my favourite Vegies, but it literally feels like sunshine in my body when I eat it too, (hence the name!)

This new recipe I have for you today, has all the qualities I love about the ‘Sunshine Veggie Soup Recipe’, with a little extra! The two new main ingredients being; whole red lentils for added protein, fibre and oomph! And, fluffy steamed quinoa for extra protein and heartiness! Yuummm!!! (It’s so good, I’m excited for you to try it!)

The combination of healing Ayurvedic spices, vegies, lentils and quinoa (let alone garnishing with some yummy crunchy toasted seeds – also from my E-book) is…. Let me just say, simply Super (or Souper!)-duper wholesome, nourishing and feel good! It feels DIVINE in my tummy, and I hope in yours soon too!

This Soup is a ready to go meal all in one, and I feel confident that you are going to LOVE it and fall in love with making it a staple go-to wholesome feel-good Soup recipe in your Kitchen also! Yay!!!!

A few more reasons to love Soup during Seasonal transition (and in life in general!):

Soups are an amazing nourishing staple, they are simple, quick, easy to make and nutrient packed!
They are warming, light, high in fiber from Veggies and or lentils/legumes and generally speaking – are easy to digest for the body due to their warm, soft and smooth qualities!!!
They are easily customisable and adaptable and are a great meal to make when you’ve only got a few veggies left in the fridge!
You can make Soups in advance so that you have a nourishing wholesome meal for lunch or dinner ready to go on days when you’re busy and need something quick!

…Basically, what’s not to LOVE about Soups!!! …I love them SO much!

So, without further adieu, let’s get straight into the Recipe!

Wholesome & Feel-good Spring Lentil Veggie Soup Recipe!

Ingredients:

3 tbsp of Ghee, Coconut Oil or Avocado Oil
2 tsp of Cumin seeds
1 tsp of Coriander seeds
A pinch of fennel seeds
2 tbsp of fresh ginger finely chopped or grated
1 cup of finely chopped red onion (or shallots!)
½ tsp of turmeric powder
1 cup of celery finely chopped
3 cups of small – medium cubed pumpkin
2 cups of zucchini cut into quarters
2 cups of broccoli chopped into little florets (little trees!)
Approx 10-12 cracks of black pepper from your pepper grinder!
½ tsp of sea salt
1 cup of fresh coriander finely chopped
1 cup of whole red lentils (ideally soaked overnight, or at least for 1/2 a day prior to cooking!)**
1.5 cups of *cooked* whole Quinoa (white or tri-colour will work perfectly!)
Your love! (…Obviously, the *most* important ingredient, always! :)

**Note: A common question about the ‘Whole Red Lentils’, in this recipe is ‘Why do they *look* like ‘brown lentils’? The answer is that ‘Whole red lentils’ infact don’t actually look ‘red’ as their name suggests, they look ‘brown’ (like you can see in the photo’s here)! Also, if you don’t happen to have ‘Whole Red Lentils’ in the pantry as you’re reading this and are wondering what you can swap them for, you can easily use ‘French Green Puy Lentils’ instead and you’ll find they have a similar cooking time so you can follow the exact same steps!

Simple Creation process in 3 Stages:

This dish is simple, however within it’s simplicity, there are 3 key stages of preparation for it then all come together with the click of your fingers that I’m going to walk you through step by step! …There’s preparing the Lentils, preparing the Quinoa and then preparing the Soup herself! (If you already have lentils and quinoa prepared by chance, you can skip right to the bottom to making the core of the Soup straight away!)

Stage 1: Preparing your lentils… (as they require the most preparation!)

The first step and step that requires the most pre-thought and preparation is soaking and cooking the lentils. There are a couple of different ways to do this.

Lentil Cooking Option 1: If you own a pressure cooker (I recently started using an ‘Instant Pot’ pressure cooker for the sole purpose of cooking beans and lentils quickly!) then you can simply soak your lentils overnight or for at least a couple of hours, and then pop them in your pressure cooker with a bay leaf, pinch of salt and pinch of asafoetida and then cook for 10mins! After 10mins, voila, your lentils will be perfecto and ready for the soup!

Lentil Cooking Option 2: If you don’t have a pressure cooker (I didn’t for years also!) then you can cook the lentils on the stove in water for approx 50mins until they are soft, again with a bay leaf, a pinch of salt and a pinch of asafoetida. So, these are the lentil preparation options.

Stage 2: Preparing your steamed Quinoa

This step is super simple. If you’re familiar with cooking quinoa, then all you’re going to do is cook quinoa the way you know how. If you’re new to cooking beautiful fluffy quinoa then I have some instructions for you below:

How to cook beautiful fluffy Quinoa in 2 easy steps:

Step 1: Take a pot, place 1 cup of quinoa inside the pot, and fill the pot with water to rinse the quinoa and wash it, to help remove the ‘saponins’ that are naturally on the outside of quinoa and make it yummier and easy on the digestive system. Rinse your quinoa in the water a couple of times, use a fine mesh strainer when pouring the water out to prevent losing any little quinoa seeds and then place on the stove.

Step 2: Add 2 cups of filtered boiling water from the kettle (this will just save you a bunch of cooking time!) and a pinch of sea salt, place the lid on the pot and then bring to a boil! Once it comes to a boil, turn the heat down to low and let it cook with the lid still on for 15mins. After 15mins turn the heat of completely and let the quinoa sit with the lid still on (to utilise the steam) for another 5 mins before serving. The result will be beautiful gorgeous fluffy Quinoa! Yum!

Okay, now let’s get onto making the heart and soul of this soup – the warming, healing ~ liquidy Vegie goodness!!!

Stage 3: Now, to make the Soup! (this is the quickest part, your Soup will be ready within 20-25mins!)

1. Warm your Ghee or oil in your pot, then add your Cumin seeds, Coriander seeds and fennel seeds. Allow to saute for a few moments until you see the spices release little tiny ‘bubbles’ around them (a sign of them releasing their healing volatile-oil goodness into the pot) and then add your finally chopped garlic, ginger and onion. Stir and saute for a few minutes to soften the onion and allow the garlic and ginger to become yummy and then add your turmeric powder and continue to saute and stir until the onion is soft and caramelised.

2. Add your celery and stir for a few minutes, allowing the celery to soften and meld with the other ingredients already in the pot. Next, add your pumpkin, and stir for a few minutes to give it a head start before then adding the rest of the vegies. Next add the rest of the vegies; the zucchini and broccoli and stir. Add your hot water from the kettle, a generous amount of ‘black pepper’ from your pepper grinder (or approx ‘12’ cracks!), sea salt and some fresh coriander. Allow to cook for approx 20mins or until the pumpkin is soft and tender. When the pumpkin is soft, you know your soup is done!

3. Scoop your drained and cooked lentils into the Soup and stir to allow the lentils to merge with the vegies. And then optional is to add a few spoons of quinoa to your soup (this is really delicious) OR leave the quinoa as a side to enjoy adding to the soup as you eat it, like dipping bread into your soup, but it’s fluffy quinoa instead!

And your Soup is done!!!

Serve with some crunchy toasted seeds, fresh coriander, a little pinch of salt and a few more cracks of black pepper to suit your taste.

Enjoy and relax while eating… put some soft music on in the background, light a candle or two and take a moment to ‘center’ your mind and body before your first bite. When we do this before a meal we are relaxing the nervous system, which in turn relaxes the digestive system. This prepares the body to digest the divine food we are about to bring into our precious body optimally for great digestion and our ultimate Nourishment!

…Yum! Enjoy in bliss and if you make this recipe and love it please let me know on instagram, facebook or even good-old email (lorien@wholesomelovinggoodness.com) ! :) I love hearing from you and seeing your creations!

With love and joy to your home and family from mine!

Blessed and blissed nourishing!

x Lorien

P.S. If you’re feeling inspired to take your personal inner and outer nourishment and self-care to a whole-new delicious level, you might love my self-paced signature 6-Week Ayurvedic Food & Lifestyle transformation program, ‘Simple Ayurveda in Your Kitchen’!

It’s a juicy course to support you in not only becoming a creative intuitive genius in the Kitchen, with making staple wholesome Ayurvedic dishes for yourself and your family, but to also empower you to implement Ayurveda’s foundational healing wisdom and magic into your modern daily life! The wholesome doors to the program are opening for enrolment again soon, so if you’re ready to take your nourishment to a new level I highly recommend you join the ‘Waiting list’ here so I can let you know when enrollment opens for the last time this year!

Yes please, I’d love to find out more and join the Waiting list!

Wholesome vegan lentil veggie soup recipe

Breaking your fast…

Dhal for breakfast!!??? Whhhhaaattt! I hear you say!

Yes, you can infact enjoy Dhal for breakfast – and if you’re a Dhal fiend like me, this news ought to bring you and your beautiful tummy great joy!

Breakfast is a meal where we are literally, ‘breaking’ a ‘fast’. If we are following a perfect Ayurvedic Lifestyle routine then eating dinner early in the evening, allows for the body to have a much needed fast, a period of approx 12+ hours of rest and rejuvenation infact, if you were to finish your evening meal by 7.30pm and have breakfast at approximately 7.30 or 8am.

So, since breakfast is the first meal of the day, after our digestive system has just been resting, it’s wise to eat something light, easy to digest and ideally warm in nature for the first meal of the day (after your morning routine of cleansing lemon and ginger water of course!)

Ayurvedic Porridge is a big breakfast favourite of mine, however sometimes it feels good to have a savoury option – something salty, hearty and protein-y for a change.

Dhal my friends, is a great answer for these savoury morning feels, and the best part is that you can make a batch of this up the night before and then simply heat it up on the stove for breakfast, (if you find that you are often time-poor when it comes to your morning meal, like I know so many of us often are!)

Not only is it convenient for breakfast, but it also makes a great easy and ready to go dinner meal as evenings are also a good time to eat light, warm and easy to digest soup – like dishes, and this Dhal certainly ticks all those boxes.

(Lunch is the meal that you want to make the biggest meal of your day in Ayurvedic medicine, as that is when the sun is the strongest and therefore your digestive ‘inner’ sun or fire, known as Agni is at its peak and can process a more complex meal more optimally.)

Your frozen smoothie bowl might be making you hotter during summer!

Finally, for all my friends in summer right now, like I am, you might be thinking that it’s ‘too hot’ to eat Dhal this time of year, I am here to tell you otherwise. Not only is this delicious and healthy Ayurvedic Dhal appropriate for winter, it is also so great to eat during the warmer months of the year, and infact might even help you stay cooler.

When we eat warm foods our body doesn’t need to work so hard to digest, thus reducing heat being generated internally. When you reach for your frozen smoothie bowl however, you may be heating yourself up due to the extra work your system has to do in order to digest the food AND keep you cool at the same time! …Something the think about. :)

Ready to try a warmer approach to staying cool? Get the recipe for this delicious Ayurvedic Breakfast Dhal below…

I garnished my Ayurvedic Split Moong breakfast dhal with a generous dollop of coconut yoghurt (to add creamy sweetness and dimension of flavour), a squeeze of fresh lemon (to aid digestion) + my new favourite locally grown summer green, lemon sorrel for freshness and a little bitter taste to cleanse and tone my liver!

Ayurvedic Split Moong Breakfast Dhal Recipe

*Makes approx 4 serves

Ingredients in order of usage: (100% organic wherever possible!):

1 tbsp of coconut oil
2 tsp of whole cumin seeds
1/4 tsp of fennel seeds
1 small red onion, finely chopped (100% optional!)
1 tbsp of fresh ginger, finely chopped or grated
2 tsp of ground coriander powder (I grind mine freshly in a coffee/spice grinder)
1/2 tsp of turmeric powder
1 cup of soaked, washed and rinsed Split Moong Dhal (I buy mine from Santos Organics!)*
1 tiny pinch of pure asafoetida powder (this will add a lovely flavour, 100% optional though!)
1.5 litres of filtered boiling hot water for cooking
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
2 tsp of pure himalayan salt or good quality sea salt
Coconut yoghurt of your choice to garnish, (make sure it is sugar-free! Read the label.)
Some fresh slices of lemon
Fresh seasonal greens to garnish; lemon sorrel, coriander, rocket, whatever you’re loving! :)
Your loving energy!

*To soak your Split Moong Dhal: Soaking allows enzyme inhibitors and gases present in legumes to be released, making the lentils easier to digest. Cover the lentils in a bowl of water and let sit for a minimum of 30mins, or for a few hours during the day. Once soaked, the lentils will have expanded/swollen. Take your lentils to the sink, and pour them into a strainer to give a thorough wash and rinse under cool water 3-4 times until they feel clean and well rinsed in your eyes. Sit the lentils aside, allowing the water to drain away and Voila, your lentils are now soaked and ready to go into the recipe.

(*Note: if you find that you only have powdered spices or only whole, you can exchange whole spices for powders and visa versa! It will just change the texture and flavour of the meal slightly!)

Creation process:

Take a medium-large saucepan, add your coonut oil and place on a medium heat until coconut oil is warmed (or melted if it’s cold where you!)
Add your cumin seeds and fennel seeds to the oil and using a wooden spoon, stir to toast the seeds, allowing the potent oils to be released into the oil.
Add your chopped onion (optional), fresh ginger, coriander powder, turmeric powder and Asafoetida – and stir to combine the spices with the fresh onion and ginger until the onion softens and it feels well ‘toasted’.
Add your soaked, washed and strained Split Moong Dhal to the pot and stir vigorously to mix the lentils with the spicey mix on the bottom. Stir for 3-5 minutes or until you feel the lentils are well toasted and starting to stick to the bottom of the pot.
Add your boiling water (stand back for this as the oil and water can ‘spit’ at each other) then stir the water into the dhal.
Turn up the heat to high and boil for 20 minutes, stirring regularly (adding your LOVE) and ensuring a nice even distribution of heat in the pot.
Now you can add your back pepper and salt, place the lid on and reduce the heat to a simmer. Continue to simmer and stir for another 5 minutes, then turn the heat off and let sit with the lid on for 5minutes.
You will know your dhal is cooked when it has reached a smooth soupy consistency (try adding more water if you feel it looks too thick at any point) and the lentils are no longer separate, they have become ‘one’ with each other! So spiritual indeed! :)
When you are ready to serve your beautiful Dhal, scoop the desired amount into a bowl, add a dollop of your favourite coconut yoghurt, a sprinkle of black pepper, squeeze of fresh lemon and some freshly chopped leafy greens or herbs!
Finally, before eating, take 3 deep breathes, say a quite inner prayer of gratitude and enjoy savouring each mouthful of this dhaaalicious easy to digest Ayurvedic savoury breakfast!

Enjoy this recipe and may your breakfasts be delicious, or should I say, dhaaalllicious for ever more!