Raw Curried Lentil Soup

Day 22 of our “One Month Raw Food Cleanse”
We’re on the home stretch of our one month raw food cleanse. It’s been a lot of fun dragging out all of my raw kitchen toys and making up new recipes. This weekend I will be experimenting with Irish moss. I’ve never used it myself but I’ve had wonderful, creamy desserts with this as a key ingredient. If I create something worth sharing, you’ll see it soon!

Today I’m going to share a recipe I developed when I did my post on sprouting on May 9, 2009. I like to use tiny green lentils for this recipe and for the lentil crust on the raw pizza I posted on May 18th, 2009. I think they have a more delicate flavor than the larger brown lentils. They are extremely easy to sprout and are very digestible. As I pointed out in that May 9th post, raw lentil sprouts are a good source of protein, thiamin, iron, phosphorus and copper and a very good source of vitamin C. Since vitamin C is destroyed when heated, you’ll get the most benefit from this recipe since it is raw.

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Raw Curried Lentil Soup [serves 2]
1 packed cup of sprouted green lentils plus some extra for garnish
3 tablespoons onion, chopped
1 cup filtered water
2 tablespoons dried raw coconut
1 medium zucchini, about 1 1/2 cups chopped
1 medium red bell pepper, chopped (1/2 for soup and 1/2 for garnish)
2 small cloves garlic, chopped
2 teaspoons sweet curry powder
1/2 cup banana, sliced
1/2 fresh jalapeno
2 tablespoons cilantro, chopped for garnish
Kernels from 1 ear of fresh, raw corn for garnish
3 tablespoons lime juice
1 small avocado
1 teaspoon salt (more or less to taste)
Several dashes of cayenne pepper (more or less to taste)

Put the dried coconut in 1 cup of water and let rehydrate for 20 minutes. After 20 minutes, put the coconut and the water in a high speed blender with the sprouted lentils (remember to save some for the garnish , onion, zucchini, half of the red bell pepper, garlic, curry powder, banana, jalapeno, lime juice, avocado, salt and cayenne pepper. Blend until smooth and place in two bowls. Garnish with extra sprouted lentils, chopped red bell pepper, corn kernels and cilantro and serve.

Per serving: 327 calories, 14.6 g fat, 4.5 g saturated fat, 2.3 g cholesterol, 8.8 g protein, 47 g carbohydrates and 9.7 g of fiber.

Menu for Day 22
Breakfast is a strawberry smoothie with fresh strawberries, a banana, a small apple, soaked almonds, a large handful of fresh spinach, a brazil nut (for selenium), flax seed oil, ice and stevia. Lunch is a large green salad with avocado, cucumber, radishes, carrot, heirloom tomatoes, pumpkin and sunflower seeds with raw crackers. Dinner is curried lentil soup and a half of a cantaloupe filled with diced watermelon. My snack today will be apple slices and raw almond butter. I’ll be experimenting with the Irish moss to come up with a dessert.