Lentil Soup with Roasted Pumpkin and Dumplings

Warm hearty healthy vegan Lentil Soup with cumin roasted pumpkin and broken wheat dumplings for cold rainy evenings!

I'm blogging after a long time - one and a half months!! The last two months were tough. Too much happening at work, I was stressed out a lot and the thought of opening my laptop once I had shut down the office one was so stressful, I let the blog slide for a while. Add to that I had some unplanned weekend travel that left me exhausted. Toss in a sore throat and a runny nose with that and I'm sure you understand how bad the past 2 months were for me.

I did not stop cooking though, I cooked a lot!! Hoping to get all those recipes on the blog soon. First one comes today - Lentil Soup with Roasted Pumpkin and Dumplings!! (whew! long name)

Is it raining where you are? It definitely is pouring cats, dogs and elephants where I am and I have a higher chance of survival if I were a whale. Not sure if it is our friendly South West monsoons gone rogue or the effects of a depression in Bay of Bengal, but we've received a lot more rain than the city can handle. Flooded roads are adding to traffic and increasing travel time exponentially. 

With rain, comes wind - sharp and cold!! And all this cloudy cold is making me crave is hot hot HOT.. What's hotter and more comforting than soup on a cold windy day? Let us assume that I'm only talking about food for now. So Soup it is!! 

I was browsing through some really old magazines of mine and I chanced upon my sole copy of BBC Good Food magazine. I'm really upset they stopped the magazine in India. I hope they see the merit of starting it again someday. Waiting with crossed fingers! But yeah, the magazine had this exact recipe of Lentil Soup with roasted pumpkin and dumplings that I adapted from. 

This soup has 3 components - Lentils, Pumpkin and Dumplings.

Lentils - While the recipe mentioned Puy lentils, I used whole red lentils or Masoor. This cut down my cooking time as well as expense in half. To start with, just boil the lentils in water along with a little salt until they are done. Stop cooking before they are mushy enough to become dal. The lentils should preferably hold their shape and have the slightest of the bite in them. Cook them in vegetable broth for added flavor.

Pumpkin - Red pumpkin is roasted along with olive oil, salt, chilli powder and lots of cumin. Cube it and then roast it to reduce cooking time. These taste fabulous, so advise you to make a little extra, you can nibble on them as you cook. I definitely lost a good quantity of them to Raj and Gee while I cooked. A part of the pumpkin is pureed with the lentils and added to the soup while the rest can be just tossed in adding to the texture of the soup.

Dumplings - The recipe called for fine Bulghar wheat, what I used was Dalia or broken wheat, an Indian breakfast staple along with some millets. I soaked both the dalia and fox tail millets (navane) for half hour before draining and mixing in chopped onions, chopped coriander, salt, pepper, a tiny teaspoon of oil and plain flour. Mixed it and shaped into marble sized balls. I boiled them in water for 15-20 minutes until the wheat was almost cooked. Boil them in stock for added flavor.

The last step was combining all the 3 components and simmering for 10 minutes until everything came together. Garnish with chopped coriander and you are ready to serve.

This soup is very hearty and filling, it can keep you going for hours.

If you made this recipe, let me know! Leave a comment here or on Facebook, tag your tweet with @oneteaspoonlife on Twitter and don't forget to tag your photo #oneteaspoonoflife on Instagram. You can also email me at onetspoflife@gmail.com. I'd love to see what you are upto. 

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If you liked this, you may also like:

• Black Bean Soup - Mexican style black bean soup. Vegan.
• Creamy Vegan Pumpkin Soup - Thick creamy vegan pumpkin soup.
• Panchrangi Dal / Panchmel Dal - A dal from West India made with 5 different types of lentils.

You can find more soup recipes here.

Lentil Soup with Roasted Pumpkin and Dumplings

Lentil soup with added cumin roasted pumpkins and dumplings made of broken wheat.

Recipe Type:  Soup
Cuisine:            International
Prep Time:     45 minutes
Cook time:     60 minutes
Yield:                Serves 2-3

Ingredients:

150 gms Whole Red Lentils / Masoor
150 gms Pumpkin
4 Tbsp Broken Wheat / Dalia
2 Tbsp Foxtail Millet
2 Tbsp All Purpose Flour / Maida
1 small Onion
3 Tbsp chopped Coriander
1 tsp Cumin Powder
1 tsp Red Chilli Powder
1 tsp Pepper Powder
2 Tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Salt to taste
Water as required
4-5 tsp Oil

Method:

Soak the lentils in water for 30 minutes.
Soak the broken wheat and foxtail millet in water for 30 minutes.
Boil 3 cups of water in a large pot and add 0.5 tsp of salt to it.
Drain the lentils and add to the pot of boiling water and cook until the lentils are done.
Drain out the broken wheat and millets. Add all purpose flour, finely chopped onions, 1 Tbsp chopped coriander, salt and 0.5 tsp pepper. Mix until combined. If it is runny, add more flour.
Shape into marble sized balls.
Boil 2 cups of water in a pot and add the dumplings into it. Cook for 15-20 minutes or until the dumplings are cooked.
Dice the pumpkin into bite sized pieces. Rub with olive oil, red chilli powder, cumin and salt. Lay onto a baking sheet.
Preheat the oven to 200 degree C. Bake the pumpkin for 20-25 minutes or until done.
Blend 1/3rd of the pumpkin with 1/3rd of the lentils and add to the boiled lentils. Add salt and pepper as required. Add more water if required and simmer for 10 minutes.
Add the remaining pumpkin and the dumplings and simmer for 5 minutes.
Garnish with the remaining chopped coriander and serve hot.