Spicy Lentil Soup with Dill and Cumin, Award & Meme

This lentil dish is from a cookbook I borrowed from the library (and ended up purchasing for myself) "feast from the Mideast - 250 Sun-Drenched Dishes from the Lands of the Bible. " This reminded me a lot of the soups my mom would make when I was a kid. I would love to try this with a vegetable or chicken based broth. I think it would really enhance the flavor nicely :)

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups lentils, any kind
• 2 - 3 tablespoons olive or vegetable oil
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 4 large garlic cloves, chopped
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 2 celery ribs, sliced
• 1 carrot, diced
• 4 - 6 cups water (I am going to use veggie or chicken broth next time)
• 2 zucchini, diced
• salt & pepper, to taste
• 2 tablespoons snipped or chopped fresh dill, or 2 teaspoons dried dill (start with 1 teaspoon, taste and add more if needed... I found 2 teaspoons to be a bit much)
• cayenne pepper, to taste
• lemon wedges, for accompaniment

Method:

Rinse and drain lentils. Heat the oil in a medium saucepan. Add onion and saute over medium-low heat for 7 minutes, or until golden. Add garlic and cumin and saute for one minute. Add lentils, celery, carrot and 4 cups water. Bring to a boil. Cover and simmer over low heat for 30 minutes, adding more water if soup becomes too thick. Add zucchini, salt, and pepper and simmer for 10 minutes, or until lentils are very tender. Leave the soup chunky, or puree all or part of it in a blender or food processor, as you like. Taste and adjust seasoning, adding plenty of black pepper and a pinch of red pepper. Serve with lemon wedges.

Sushma, from Authentic Food Delights (and also my previous post :), has passed this award to me... Thanks Sushma!

This award has to be passed to 6 of your favorite blogs and comes with a meme, which has to be answered with one word.

1. Where is your cell phone: Table

2. Your hair: Auburn

3. Your mother: Cindy

4. Your father: Missed :(

5. Your favorite food: Many!

.6. Your dream last night: Boyfriend

7. Your favorite drink: Water

8. Your dream/goal: Success

9. What room are you in: Living

10. Your hobby: Cooking

11. Your fear: Flying

12. Where do you want to be in 6 years: Chicago

13. Where were you last night: Home

14. Something you aren’t: Fake

15. Muffins: Lemon

16. Wish list item: GPS

17. Where did you grow up: Kalamazoo

18. Last thing you did: Work

19. What are you wearing: Clothes

20. Your TV: Seinfeld

21. Your pets: Cute!

22. Your friends: Awesome!

23. Your life: Gift

24. Your mood: Anxious

25. Missing someone: Yes

26. Vehicle: Sable

27. Something you’re not wearing: Shoes

28. Your favorite store: Grocery

29. Your favorite color: Orange

30. When was the last time you laughed: Earlier

31. Last time you cried: Earlier

32. Your best friend: Sri

33. One place that I go over and over: Chicago

34. One person who emails me regularly: Sri

35. Favorite place to eat: Madras Masala (I can't make that one word ;)

As always, I pass this along to anybody who would like to do this meme and accept this award :)