My Lentil soup has too much Cumin in it
Jan :)
market that had a spice packet with it for Lentil soup. But, it has a good
deal of Cumin in it than I like. Is there a way to mitigate that flavor?
Jan:)
Jerry Avins
Chuck the spice packet. (Next time, buy lentils at about $0.60/lb.)
1 cup brown lentils. (The orange ones puree themselves.)
1 small (1.5" or so) onion, minced and sauteed in a small amount of oil
(I use olive). Or don't sautee. See if I care!
One medium carrot, diced fine.
Half a stalk of celery (more if you like), diced fine.
2 cloves garlic, chopped fine.
5-6 cups water
salt to taste.
When you tire of stirring the onion, add the water and everything else.
It's good soup after 40 minutes of simmering. Let it cool covered, then
reheat after an hour or two, adding water if needed; it will be better
soup then. A little butter stirred in at the last minute can dress it up.
Jerry
--
Engineering is the art of making what you want from things you can get.
¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
Jan :)
"Jerry Avins" <j...@ieee.org> wrote in message
news:BLGdnTqpgIwtXxba...@rcn.net...
> Jan :) wrote:
>> I have never made Lentil soup before, and bought a bag of Lentils at the
>> market that had a spice packet with it for Lentil soup. But, it has a
>> good deal of Cumin in it than I like. Is there a way to mitigate that
>> flavor?
>
> Chuck the spice packet. (Next time, buy lentils at about $0.60/lb.)
>
> 1 cup brown lentils. (The orange ones puree themselves.)
> 1 small (1.5" or so) onion, minced and sauteed in a small amount of oil (I
> use olive). Or don't sautee. See if I care!
> One medium carrot, diced fine.
> Half a stalk of celery (more if you like), diced fine.
> 2 cloves garlic, chopped fine.
> 5-6 cups water
> salt to taste.
>
> When you tire of stirring the onion, add the water and everything else.
> It's good soup after 40 minutes of simmering. Let it cool covered, then
> reheat after an hour or two, adding water if needed; it will be better
> soup then. A little butter stirred in at the last minute can dress it up.
Thanks, Jerry. I used all the ingredients that you suggested, a nice ham
bone, and a bit of fresh basil and parsley. I started not to get the
package with the packet, but, thought I'd try that. Now I know that it is
the pits and won't do that again. I also added a bit or red wine, and some
some petite diced tomatoes. I thought maybe the tomatoes would dampen the
Cumin a bit, but, it is still kind of _there_.
Oh well, next time I'll know better. I'm just glad I didn't try the recipe
that called for adding beets! :-)
Jan :)
Jerry Avins
...
> Thanks, Jerry. I used all the ingredients that you suggested, a nice ham
> bone, and a bit of fresh basil and parsley. I started not to get the
> package with the packet, but, thought I'd try that. Now I know that it
> is the pits and won't do that again. I also added a bit or red wine,
> and some some petite diced tomatoes. I thought maybe the tomatoes would
> dampen the Cumin a bit, but, it is still kind of _there_.
>
> Oh well, next time I'll know better. I'm just glad I didn't try the
> recipe that called for adding beets! :-)
I sometimes add a bit* of tomato paste. There's hardly anything that
doesn't work in a soup pot, including beets. Sometime try diced potato,
(mash a little when everything's cooked to add body) coarsely chopped
garlic (more than you think appropriate; next time you'll use more yet)
sliced mushrooms, a few raisins, a tea bag, celery, onion ... and add
chopped spinach just before serving. How do you say, "With soup, you
can't go wrong" in Latin? It would make a good motto.
Jerry
_________________________________
* I buy large (12-oz) cans of tomato paste. After opening a can, I
freeze what I don't use right away in a plastic ice-cube tray. I store
the cubes in a plastic bag after they're hard. That way I always have
some on hand much cheaper than the squeeze tubes.
Val
"With soup, you
> can't go wrong" in Latin? It would make a good motto.
>
> Jerry
Hos suppe, jer kan ikke mere forkert.
That's Danish.....Sorry, I left my electronic Latin translator in my other
toga ;)
Val
Val
don't for the taste or even like the aroma before or after cooking, but
that's just me. I also don't care for cilantro for the same reasons.
When I make lentil soup I pour a can of chicken stock in the blender, toss
in a hunked up onion, some carrots, 2- 3 big stalks of celery (leaves and
all), a few (or more) cloves of garlic, any over ripe tomatoes I need to use
up, or small can of diced tomatoes ( I like tomato in my lentil soup) and
buzz it till it's a fine slurry. Then pour that, with about a quart of
water, into the soup pot with a big scoop of lentils (I buy them in bulk),
toss in a disk of ham hock*, a small bay leaf and a spoonful of Herbs de
Provance or Italian Herb Blend and fresh ground pepper. Sometimes a small
pinch of caraway seeds or caraway powder...depends on my mood. I let it
simmer for about 30 minutes and taste before adding any salt. The stock and
hock has salt so I 'wait and see". I usually make this in the morning and,
like Jerry suggested, set it aside to let it cool and then reheat it later.
Soups and stews are always better if they mellow a bit. I personally don't
care to add a potato to any legume soup. I've tried it but I think it gives
it a grainy feel I don't care for (a personal choice). Usually just cooling
and reheating will thicken it quite a bit, or I've also scooped out a cup
full of the soup and buzzed that in the blender on "liquefy" and poured it
back into the pot if I want it thickened right away.
One thing to try at the end of cooking, when you are making soups and stews.
When that final taste test makes you think "Hmmm, not quite right, does it
maybe need more salt?" slosh in about a teaspoon of vinegar instead, stir it
well, wait a few minutes and taste again. Most of the time that bit of acid
will bring out the flavor better than addition salt and no, you won't taste
vinegar. Gramma taught me that....it works;) I make my own herbed vinegars
and usually use one of those.
*When I buy ham hocks (always on sale) I ask the butcher to slice them into
1/2 inch disks. I find that's about all I need to flavor up a pot of lentil,
split pea, or bean soup. I'm no longer making two gallon batches for "the
troops". I may add diced ham or sausage if I want meat in my soup. I also
like to buy smoked turkey wings when I find them in the store. They will
also give these soups a nice oomph of flavor instead of a hock or ham bone
and very little if any fat. My freezer has a stash of the smoked wings and
'hock disks', vacuum sealed, always at the ready. And I fling them in
frozen...~sploosh!~.
Val
"Jan :)" <ab...@localhost.com> wrote in message
news:P1Pij.25351$UX2.15038@trnddc08...
Jerry Avins
...
> One thing to try at the end of cooking, when you are making soups and stews.
> When that final taste test makes you think "Hmmm, not quite right, does it
> maybe need more salt?" slosh in about a teaspoon of vinegar instead, stir it
> well, wait a few minutes and taste again. Most of the time that bit of acid
> will bring out the flavor better than addition salt and no, you won't taste
> vinegar. Gramma taught me that....it works;) I make my own herbed vinegars
> and usually use one of those.
You aren't exactly giving away my secrets, but I usually save that
tidbit for the advanced course. Another: try some Madeira, m'dear.
...
Jerry
Val
> You aren't exactly giving away my secrets, but I usually save that
> tidbit for the advanced course. Another: try some Madeira, m'dear.
>
> ...
>
> Jerry
I seldom have "spare wine" of any kind around. The good stuff is purchased
for meals when friends are coming over and consumed within 24 hours of
opening so consequently seldom have it available to cook with it on spur of
the moment impulses. The last time I bought Madeira for a recipe I finally
tossed the 1/2 full bottle out after it had been in the fridge for about 5
years *sigh* As a beverage I don't particularly care for Madeira. I've heard
of freezing wine in ice cube trays and then keeping the cubes in a zip lock
bag....could you do that with Madeira? Never tried it with other wine
because, as I said, there's seldom leftover wine around here.
Val
Jerry Avins
Opici bottles both Madeira and Marsala very inexpensively. They aren't
great, but I keep them around for cooking, and there are good enough for
the likes of me to sip when I'm desperate and out of sherry. At less
than $5 apiece, I can afford to keep a bottle of each around.
zydecogary
prepared and it is a little too spicy, an old trick is to
add a dairy product such as yogurt or sour cream, (or even
cheese) to the mix.
I like to play around with various Indian spices that I
find in the market. I can't go full strength (at least
according to the directions on the packets.) Invariably it
is too spicy for me so I keep yogurt handy -- to rinse my
mouth and tongue. It works. Adding it to the dish works too.
Now I can enjoy scant amounts of various Masala (variety
of spices) in dishes by using very small amounts. It gives
quite a lift to dishes that you probably regularly prepare
providing you with a new taste sensation -- but take it
easy unless you are used to very spicy food.
Cumin, of course, is ubiquitous in Indian spices.
Gary Hayman
Greenbelt, Maryland
see: http://snipurl.com/garmin_gps_tricks
Jan :)
the ingredients were not listed on the spice packet, or I would not have
added them. While the soup was not bad, it was not as I had intended. I
also fixed some rolls brushed with garlic butter and topped with shredded
parmesan to go with it.
I use Cumin in my Mexican dishes, which I do like, as well as cilantro,
which I grow fresh. I like things nice and hot, and also grow my own
jalapeno and habanera peppers to use in my homemade tomatillo and green
chili salsa. But, it just did not go well with the Lentil soup, although,
when checking recipes on the Internet I did see several that also called for
Cumin.
Jan :)
"zydecogary" <zydec...@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:843423b1-800e-4b9c...@f3g2000hsg.googlegroups.com...
madchef2002
try adding corriader & chopped tomato if it becomes to liquid thicken
with tomato paste