Dal Shorba - Healthy Indian Soup

Dal Shorba is a very tasty, healthy, lentil based soup in Indian Cuisine flavoured with Indian spices. This soup is an excellent appetizer for a gathering. I never tried making this soup before. So I am just presenting my Husband's recipe through this post. This is totally made by him with his own customizations. So all plus and minus should go to him.!!! As he always try to upgrade any existing version with his own healthy customization, he did the same for this soup too..He chose three lentils that are pink, red based..( like Red Masoor Dal, Red Moth, Brown Masoor..) for the base and other vegetables like Carrot, Celery, White onion, Broccoli, beans, butternut squash as an addition. He started making the soup from scratch and the soup was awesome for that cold wintery night. Needless to say that he is an excellent foodie who enjoys cooking and always gives right feedback (!!) to my food too. We all enjoyed the soup with a side of few toasted multigrain bread. ( An Appetizer item turned out to be a wholesome meal with a slice of bread for all of us.!!!! ). Recipe follows as described by him....

Ingredients

Masoor Dal ( Red Lentils ) - 1 Handful

Brown Masoor Dal  ( Brown Lentils)- 1 Handful

Red Moth Dal ( Moth Beans )- 1 Handful

Lavang / Cloves - 2

Cinnamon Stick - 1 Small

Bay Leaves - 2

Oil - 4 tsp

Salt - To Taste

Sugar - 1/2 teaspoon

Powders to be added :

Turmeric Powder - 1 tsp

Cumin / Jeera Powder - 1 tsp

Black Pepper Powder - 2-3 tsp ( He added more for his portion..)
Red Chili Powder - 1/2 tsp ( Optional )

Vegetables

Garlic crushed / shredded - 1 tbsp

White onion - 1/2 finely shredded

Carrot - 1 Medium

Broccoli - 12-15 florets

Tomato - 3 Big ripe

Butternut Squash - 1/2 cup cut into small cubes

Celery - 5 Sticks

Peas - 1 Handful

Coriander Leaves - 1 handful finely shredded

Grated Ginger - 1 tbsp

Lemon Juice - 2-3 tsp

Method

• Wash the lentils / Dals and pressure cook them separately or cook them in an electric cooker. Keep the cooked lentils paste and the dal water if any separately.
• Wash all the vegetables and cut them into different size as desired and keep them ready.
• Meantime, dry roast the cumin seeds, black pepper seeds and powder them nicely and keep it ready.
• In a big thick bottomed soup pot, first add the oil. When its heated, add the crushed garlic and onion first. Fry them well with a pinch of salt till the onion pieces get translucent.
• Add the Bay leaves, cinnamon stick, cloves, turmeric powder into the pot now and fry them.
• Next add the other vegetables like carrots, broccoli, butternut squash, peas, tomatoes into the pot and cook them with some water. At this time, you can even add the remaining cooked dal water into the pot.
• When they are cooked enough, add the cumin/black pepper powder, red chili powder and crushed ginger into the pot. Add the other watery vegetables like celery into the pot now.
• Add the cooked dal paste into the pot and required amount of salt, 1/2 tsp of sugar and water into the soup pot. Stir them well and allow them to get cooked for about 3-4 minutes on a medium flame.
• When the soup is boiled well enough, remove the Bay Leaves, cinnamon stick and cloves from the pot carefully. Using a masher or hand blender, gently mash the soup for few seconds just to set it to the right consistency.
• Switch off the flame. Finally add the lemon juice and mix it well.
• Before serving, garnish with coriander leaves and few drops of melted butter on its top.
• A Healthy and tasty appetizer loaded with protein and good amount of other vitamins is an ideal choice before a healthy meal.

Tips / Variations 

You can include your favorite vegetables in this soup but try to include atleast two watery vegetables in your choice.