Warm and Vivid Autumnal Soup

I took a day off from setting up my online store, and made an vivid and warm autumnal soup.

Then, I poured some into a bowl and took this photo, with two indigenous folk art spoons from the town of Pasto in the southern central Andes in Colombia. I bought them as a gift for my mother in 1972, who displayed them on the wall of her dining room until she transitioned in 2007, after which they resumed their duties, watching over the dining rooms I have used since then.

This recipe was improvised as I went, but inspired by recipes I had tried previously. I am fortunate to live where I can easily obtain organically grown ingredients, and I used them here exclusively.

I soaked a cup of red lentils overnight in four cups of purified water. The next day I rinsed off the white foam they had produced, placed them in a large pot and added water that stood twice as high as the lentils. I brought them to a boil, then removed the lid of the pot and turned the flame down to the minimum, and kept them simmering, stirring occasionally until the lentils were cooked soft. When the water was about to get low enough that the lentils might stick to the pot, I added a can of coconut cream, and stirred it frequently while it simmered another 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, I sliced and seeded a small butternut squash and steamed the pieces until they were soft. When they were cool enough to handle, I scooped the cooked squash out of the skins and into the jar of the food processor/high speed blender. I added a cup of the water from steaming the squash, and liquified them.

Then I blended the lentil/coconut cream mixture and a small can of tomato paste into the squash puree.

Finally, I chopped small and sauteed in coconut oil at low heat three cloves of garlic and a half of a red onion. While they were softening and releasing their aromas, I added two teaspoons of cumin seed powder, a teaspoon of a good-smelling masala blend, and two teaspoons of powdered tumeric root. When it was all fragrant and soft, I added the entire contents of the sautee pan to the rest of the ingredients in the food processor, and blended it until it was smooth.