Liquid Sunshine Soup
1 onion
1 cup of red lentils
1 cup chopped mushrooms (optional)
1 butternut squash (or one can pumpkin puree)
1 cup orange juice
juice of one lemon (optional)
2 teaspoon sugar (optional)
veggie broth (1 1/2 cups or so)
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon coriander
1 teaspoon cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon powdered ginger
1/2 teaspoon powdered mustard
cayenne to taste
salt to taste
Roast the squash by cutting in half, removing seeds and stringy membrane, place cut side down on baking sheet, pierce skin with a fork a few times, cook at 350 for 40 minutes or until soft.
Chop onions and carmelize in a soup pot. Add broth as needed. (When onions are done put in mushrooms and saute until liquid is released and cooked down.)
Rinse lentils. For quicker soup soak them in the broth.
Scoop squash flesh away from skin and puree with orange juice.
After onions are carmelized (and mushrooms are done) dump all ingredients into the onion cooking pot. Simmer gently until lentils are cooked. If using the squash you may wish to add onion juice to cut the sweetness, if using canned pumpkin you may wish to add vegan sugar to add to the sweetness.
SO HOW'D IT GO?
My guests loved it. I was less sure, since I didn't know what the end product was intended to taste like. Sweet? Sour? Spicy? I often make curried dal, and sometimes squash-apple soup-- this was kind of like a combination of the two. The squash doesn't add much flavor, but it gives it an appealing velvety texture.
I used butternut squash, all the lemon juice and sugar. I used less cinnamon because 1 teaspoon seemed like too much, but I needn't have worried. And yes, you probably could use double the broth-- I think I used three cups. And I think next time I'll omit the mushrooms.