Week 42: Mongolian Lentil Stew Leaves Me Speechless

52 Saturdays left me feeling baffled this week.

First, the recipe that I selected last week, while it said it was easy, seemed kind of disgusting and there was no way I was going to try to make a healthier version of it, so I switched recipes midway through the process.

That recipe (which has four pages and is decidedly not easy) left me with no family memories or commentary about my mother to share.

Add to that the Harvey Weinstein news cycle this week, which had me deliberating for days whether or not to write about my own experiences of work-place sexual harassment and sexual assault as a teenager.

Sure, I could have written about my mother‘s reaction, how I feel as a woman, and/or speculated how mom might’ve reacted to the #MeToo campaign.

But, in the end, I feel sharing my “#MeToo” story on a food blog would not only minimize my own pain, but that of other women.

 Which ultimately left me with not a lot to talk about, so this week it’s just a recipe.

Original Recipe
(All four pages!)

NOTE: There is an error – Tomatoes are mentioned in the directions but not listed in the ingredients.

 

The Process

LAMB ?!?!
Once again, my mom had a recipe with a baby animal as a key ingredient. Naturally, the first thing to go was the lamb, but I’m sick of tofu. I almost used chicken in the revamp, but it was kind of chilly the other day, so the thought of lentil soup was appealing.

From what I could tell (via my google search) this recipe is uniquely Mongolian, because mustard seed and root vegetables are common ingredients in recipes from that region. I switched up my usual lentil soup recipe by adding mustard seed and, because it’s pumpkin season, 1 cup of pumpkin purée instead of my usual 2 tablespoons of tomato paste.

 I kept the roasted vegetable aspect of my mom’s recipe the same, but I added parsnips.

The Results
Of course, this recipe revamp didn’t taste anything like lamb, because let’s face it, lentils don’t taste like lamb. But, it was definitely a delicious, healthy, and satisfying cold evening meal.

Adding the pumpkin purée to the lentil soup was a good choice from a flavor perspective, and it adds a nutrition boosting dose of fiber, vitamin E, vitamin A, vitamin C, vitamin B6, thiamin, niacin, folate, iron, magnesium, potassium, and manganese.

Originally, I served the vegetables separate from the soup, but then decided to mix them together, which made for amazing leftovers as the root vegetables had a chance to marinate, thus adding their flavors to the soup. This makes it much more like a stew.

Mongolian Lentil and Vegetable Stew

Mongolian Lentil Soup


Ingredients

1 onion, chopped
1/4 cup olive oil
2 carrots, diced
2 stalks celery, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup fresh parsley, chopped
1 teaspoon dried or one sprig of fresh rosemary
3 bay leaves
2 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar
2 cups dry lentils, rinsed and drained
6 cups water
1 – 2 cups fresh spinach leaves
2 tablespoons vinegar
2 teaspoons mustard seed,
1 cup pumpkin puree (not sweetened pie filling)
Salt and ground black pepper, to taste

Directions

:

In a large soup pot, heat oil over medium heat. Add onions, carrots, celery, and parsley; cook and stir until onion is tender. Stir in garlic, bay leaf, mustard seed, and rosemary; cook for 2 minutes.
Stir in lentils. Add water. Bring to a boil.

Reduce heat and simmer for at least 1 hour. When ready to serve, stir in spinach and pumpkin purée, and then cook until spinach wilts. Stir in vinegar, and season to taste with salt and pepper (and more vinegar, if desired).

Note: do not add salt in the beginning, as it will make the lentils chewy and tough.

Mongolian Roasted Vegetables


Ingredients


4 garlic cloves
1 large onion
2 carrots
2 small or 1 large Turnips (how many)
2 medium 
Zucchini
1 cup fresh parsley
4 tablespoons olive oil
2 teaspoons mustard seed
1/4 cup dry sherry
Salt and pepper, to taste

Directions

Preheat oven to 425-degrees.
Coat a roasting pan or use a nonstick pan
Chop all the vegetables.
Place chopped vegetables, olive oil, mustard seed, and salt and pepper into the roasting dish and stir until the vegetables are coated with oil.

Cook for approximately 45 minutes until vegetables are tinged brown.
Stir 1/4 cup sherry into the hot vegetables.

Add vegetables to lentil soup or serve separately with flatbread.

 

Week 42 Recipe Pick

Selected because it’s pumpkin of course!

I’ve also NEVER baked anything that required yeast or rising…I’m looking forward to learning.

Tags: autumn, soup, winter