NCR Curried red lentil and apricot soup

I bought the first fresh apricots of the season last week.  They were gorgeous.  I took them to a friend's place.  I shared them with my mum.  Sylvia and I gobbled them down.  They are a rare treat.  Thank goodness for dried apricots so we can enjoy the amazing flavours of apricots all year round.  They are so good in so many recipes, both savoury and sweet.

When I saw that Lisa was calling for vegetarian soups or salads that other bloggers have made, for the monthly No Croutons Required blog event that she hosts with Jacqueline, it was a tyranny of choice.  I have an overwhelming amount of bookmarks.  So many that I probably could cook three a day and never get through them. 

I noticed that I had two bookmarked dinner recipes using dried apricots on my recipe planning notes.  I remembered I had some dried apricot soups bookmarked in my early days of blogging when I wrote bookmarks into MS Word documents.  Before Delicious, Pinterest and Eat Your Books made life easier.

It was time to make that soup with dried apricots.  I chose one by Janet at the taste space who is constantly posting interesting recipes.  I made some changes.  A little less ginger, a little more tomato, rather more salt.  Yet it was still a thick satisfying lentil soup with a complex sweetness from the dried apricots.  Wonderful.  More please!

More savoury recipes for dried apricots:

• Apricot and feta green salad - Whole Foods Market
• Apricot and hazelnut stuffing balls - BBC Good Food
• Armenian red lentil - apricot stew with sesame rice - Notes from the Vegan Feast Kitchen
• Black bean and apricot chilli non carne  - Green Gourmet Giraffe
• Chickpea barley salad - Green Gourmet Giraffe
• Lentil Apricot Soup (Armenian style) - All Creatures.org
• Pumpkin and apricot tangine - Bit of the Good Stuff
• Toor dal soup with sweet potato, dried apricots and coconut milk - Lisa's Kitchen

Curried Red Lentil and Apricot Soup
Adapted from Ravi Soups via the taste space
serves 4

1 tsp oil
1 onion, chopped
6 cloves garlic, chopped
1 tbsp ginger, finely grated
1 tbsp curry powder
4 cups water
1 cup red lentils
1 cup passata (sieved tomatoes)
40g dried apricots, chopped
Salt and pepper, to taste (I used 1 and 1/2 tsp salt)
1/3 cup of coconut milk
coriander, garnish

Heat oil over low heat in a large saucepan. Fry onion for about 10 minutes or until golden brown. Stir in garlic and ginger for a minute. Stir in curry for another minute. Add water, red lentils, passata, dried apricots and salt. Simmer for about 30 minutes or until lentils are cooked. Add coconut milk and roughly blend - a little texture is nice. Serves warm garnished with coriander.

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