Coconut Lentil Soup with Quinoa

I made this Coconut Red Lentil Soup from the 101 Cookbooks Journal. I like that site, it's pretty easy to find something quickly by ingredient. That's kind of how I like to look for recipes. What's in season and what do I already have in the kitchen to work with?

I did replace some of the ingredients in the recipe to what I had to work with. I used coconut oil instead of butter, brown and red lentils instead of peas. I didn't have any raisins, but I did have some dried cranberries, they worked out very well. I also combined some low sodium vegetable stock with the water. I think 7 cups of liquid was a little too much. I like a thicker lentil soup, almost like a stew. Next time I make this, I will cook the lentils in just enough water to cover. I wasn't happy with the consistency for awhile. I did steam some quinoa to serve with it and I just threw that in the pot of soup. It thickened up just right. It's more like a meal now. Served on collard greens, it is a whole meal.

The recipe did suggest roasting the curry in a frying pan before using. I have never done this. OH MY GOODNESS, what wonderful things that did for my kitchen. Between that aroma of the roasting curry and the freshly grated ginger my kitchen smelled like the little Indian restaurant in town. These lentils really had some nice flavors.