Turmeric & Lentil Anti-Inflammatory Soup
I’ve been doing a LOT of research lately, some really big, really deep stuff, but the one super-nutrient that KEEPS coming up (it’s crazy) is turmeric.
As I recently posted, it is scientifically proven to fight fatigue, heart and cardiovascular conditions, various cancers, inflammation, immune system issues and more.
After my first round of research I made two vows:
1) to have turmeric in some form every single day
2) to teach you how to do the same
And what better way than to give you a delicious recipe?
This soup is awesome, everyone who’s had it loves it.
It has so much goodness, such a depth of flavour and it’s super-filling. And it’s really quick and easy to make.
Turmeric is THE most potent anti-inflammatory food we know of, proven to be more powerful than dozens of prescription drugs, and if you have ANY form of inflammation you just HAVE to give this a try.
Turmeric & Lentil Anti-Inflammatory Soup
Preparation & Cooking Time: 45-60 Minutes
Serves: 4
Ingredients:
Soup:
200g Pumpkin, roughly chopped
4 Carrots, roughly chopped
1 Sweet Red Potato, roughly chopped
4 Tomatoes, roughly chopped
3 Cloves Garlic
1tsp Mustard Seeds
1 Red Onion
300ml Vegetable Stock
200ml Coconut Cream
A handful of Fresh Coriander (Cilantro), roughly chopped
1 Inch Fresh Turmeric Root
1 Inch Fresh Ginger Root
1/2 Red Pepper (Capsicum/Bell Pepper)
1 Cup of Lentils
Coconut Oil
Optional Topping:
1/2 Cup Cashews
2 Tbsp Pumpkin Seeds
1 Clove Garlic, minced
Optional: thinly sliced red chilli
Instructions
- Start by chopping the red onion, garlic, ginger (peeled) and turmeric (peeled) roughly.
- Gently heat a little coconut oil in a pan and very gently get the onion started, and once it’s cooking a little, add the turmeric, ginger, mustard seeds and garlic – being careful not to burn the garlic.
- Now add the root veggies (carrot, pumpkin, sweet potato), the red pepper and the tomatoes and stir it all around to coat the veggies in the oil and flavours (you should be able to smell that delicious turmeric now)
- Add the stock and then add the lentils. If you’re using dried lentils, you will need to add an extra 50ml of stock to allow for an additional 10 mins cooking time, but if you’re using tinned lentils (please buy organic), add them now and move onto the next step.
- Turn the heat down to simmer and let all of the veggies soften and the lentils cook.
- Once everything has softened, add the coconut cream and chopped cilantro (coriander) and then transfer to a blender and blend until smooth
- This will stay nice and warm for about an hour in the blender jug, but if you want, you can return to the pan to keep warm
- To make the optional topping (which I’ve found really nice and a delicious extra texture to the soup), simply roughly smash up the cashews on a chopping board under a knife, and cook with the pumpkin seeds in a little coconut oil with the minced garlic until it’s warmed through and a little browned.
- Serve the soup in bowls with a sprig of cilantro, a drizzle of coconut cream and the cashew topping (with optional chilli) and LOVE it 🙂
It should taste like a delicious almost curry-like soup. Full of depth, full of flavour and SO alkaline, SO anti-inflammatory and so disease-preventing you’ll be flying!
Enjoy
Ross
Hey Ross… fresh turmeric isn’t readily available in the UK (and quite honestly with my chemo neuropathy, it’s a fiddle to prepare, with the added fear of staining)… so is powdered turmeric okay?
There are a lot of queries about pumpkin substitutes. I imagine veg with similar texture will do; sweet potatoes or butternut squash.
Tomatoes I avoid in general, but I sometimes use a small dollop of sun-dried tomato paste in recipes to give a blast of flavour from minimal tomato. That might appeal to some people here. The pot of sundried tomato paste keeps well and stretches to a lot of meals for one. I also like substituting tomato with smoked paprika to add flavour and a tomatoey colour to dishes such as ratatouille.
Fresh coriander is a problem for one person. I hope dried coriander leaf would work as well. I don’t use up a bunch of coriander fast enough before it deteriorates, even when carefully nurtured in water. I’ve tried buying coriander in a pot, but that doesn’t last well either.
Thank you Ross!
Hi, I want to buy your recipe book but can’t seem to find it anywhere?
Do you not sell it on your site?
Please let me know, I want to change my diet and see if this diet will help my osteoporosis situation!
Thank so much.
Kathryn
Hi please can you tell me which sort of lentils to put into the Turmeric and lentil soup.? Is red or green?
Hi there, This looks amazing! Do yo have a substitute for pumpkin at this time of year?
Ross, this is scrumptious! Quite apart from the health benefits, but, when you add those in, it’s super-scrumptious!
Thanks – Jilly
Hi Ross,
This recipe looks amazing. Can’t wait to try it. Any idea of the calorie count? I know it’s high is protein which is great but I’m trying to figure out how to fit it into my daily calorie intake . Hope you can help! Thanks
Good evening Ross
I do not live in USA and wondered whether I could use butternut squash instead.
and i shall certainly try out your recipe as I love soups in the winter time
Thanks
100% yes 🙂
Thank you
Many thank for sharing these amazing recipes Ross and your precious guidance. I’m introducing the alkaline diet to my mum, who’s just got diagnosed with cancer. She’s a warrior and just needs to collect her weapons wisely so thanks for this one. Blessings
Thanks Ross!
Plz share your every Friday recipe with me thanks
Thank you for the RFTW.
Dear Ross,
I am having significant right kidney pain. Went in for MRI showed NO kidney stones but the pictures did show a non-alcoholic fatty liver and benign tumor sitting on top of my adrenal glad which makes my adrenal glad spit out adrenaline so my body counteracts with cortisol which is making me grow large.
I figure if my body can make these malfunctions happen by poor nutrition then it can take it away with good nutrition.
Where do I start?
What should I make sure to consume EVERYday?
Hi Ross, what kind of pumpkins do you buy for eating usually when I buy pumpkins it’s for decorating at Halloween so at this time of year, (winter in Canada) how and where do I buy edible pumpkins. Really want to try the soup. ????????
I make the lentil soup that you allowed woman’s world to post a while back the first time I lost 7 pounds. I keep making it I love it .I put the waight back on so I try it again .I enjoy the beet juice also I am trying it again this week , but with my birthday and our wedding anniversary this week plus thanksgiving weekend it will be a changing.
Hey Arleen – with every good action you take for your body, you are moving forward and giving your body a gift. Even if you fall off track for a bit – it doesn’t take away those good steps you took and put in the ‘bank’ of your long term health. Your body is in a far better place because you did those things.
Keep just moving forward, step by step, day by day. You’re going so well.
Allow yourself the grace of enjoying the week, and then go for it 🙂
Hey Ross, thanks for sharing your indepth knowledge on good healing foods, you are amazing.
Thanks Judi!
Cutting up a pumpkin sounds like a lot of work and I’m guessing you’re going to tell me not to use the canned type? That could prevent me from enjoying this wonderful recipe.
Hey Denise…tough love time…cutting up pumpkin is seriously not a lot of work if you’re serious about your health. In fact, it takes under 2 minutes to chop an entire pumpkin. Please don’t let it put you off!
Blessed morning Denise u can buy chopped up frozen pumpkin / squash at the grocery store . That’s what I use n they last long frozen .. good luck
Hi Ross,
Please answer the question about the nightshade vegetables. I am curious to read your answer. Thank you.
https://liveenergized.com/alkaline-foods-2/truth-about-anti-nutrients/
Thanks Ross!
Great recipe!
Thanks for sending me your Friday recipes each week. An excellent help for my improving cooking skills!
Genevieve Forde
Aotearoa NZ
Hi there
Is it alright to have portahouse steak for dinner with broccoli cabbage corn and peas and sweet potato also fish and chicken with the same veggies on other nights
I have made some of your soups that are delicious
Cheers
Hey Eileen
I recommend checking out my guide here (you’ll be pleasantly surprised): https://liveenergized.com/alkaline-foods-2/meat-on-the-alkaline-diet/
Ross
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why aren’t your recipes printable
Red peppers, tomatoes are amongst the nightshades. So how can you clarify these vegetables as anti-inflammatory.
Also please advise on aubergine and other nightshades family.
I also know that lentils contain lectin which causes allergies and inflammation in the body. Please advise us on this too?
Dear Ross,
Thank you, Ross, for sharing this delicition recepy!
What surprised me, however, that this soup does not contain black peper. After extensive online research on turmeric, I came to conclusion that it is practially effective only either with some black pepper or if it is heated for 10 minutes with some fat. Otherwise turmeric is not bioavialiable. So the matter is not merely to consume turmeric (which is absolutely true!) but to do make it bioavialiable. Even though not everyone likes black peppper, it seems te me irreplaceable, if one wants to obtain all benefits of turmeric.
Thank you!
This soup sounds fantastic! I am super keen to try it. YUMMM
This “anti-inflammation” recipe contains nightshades (red potatoes, tomatoes and cayenne peppers w/optional chilies). Everything I read about autoimmune diseases (especially autoimmune arthritis like PsA and RA) says to avoid nightshades. Please explain their proliferation in this recipe. Thank you for your help!
Hi Ross
Just noticing that some people have asked the question I have and I can’t find
your response on the web page. Its regarding tomatoes and potatoes not being
anti-inflammatory. Would really like to know what your thoughts are on this?
Many thanks
Hi Ross can one use any coconut oil to cook with or is there a certain particular one for eg. there’s cold pressed or there’s Virgin oil but they never say they are ok for cooking. Help
Hey Sindi, extra virgin coconut oil can be cooked at a maximum heat of 350F (175c) and refined coconut oil at 450f (230c), but avocado oil can be cooked even higher at 570f (270c). I hope this helps! This was something of my concern also. x
In this recipe you say add the tumeric in the beginning. I thought for best results nutrient wise, you mentioned to add it later in the recipes, and not cook it too much. Could you elaborate a little more?
Thanks, Sharon
My knee is bone on bone and the doctor is talking to me about knee replacement surgery..
That I do not want to do, will this or something elsrvrebild thebknee back to a healthy normal,???
Thank you
Teresa
Dr joe dispenza research him
Hi Ross,
I can’t wait to make this soup. Looks delicious and what I like about it, is that I cook with most of the ingredients in recipe. I would like to freeze some for my grandson to take up to college…he has a compromised immune system and we want as many great recipes like this.
.
Can’t get fresh pumpkins, what about tinned pumpkin?
Hey Lee
Fresh is always best, but tinned is fine if you can’t find this. To be honest, we don’t have tinned pumpkin in Australia or the UK so I don’t know which brands would be better in terms of freshness and no added preservatives etc.
Ross
Hi what happens if I freeze thaw and reheat soups, do I still get the benefits?
Hey Geri
Some of the nutrients go when you freeze and reheat, but if it keeps you going on the right track then definitely do it.
Ross
Thanks a lot,we will cook it
I’m surprised that tomatoes are included in this recipe – they are not anti-inflammatory. (when I was on a strict anti-inflammatory diet, I was not allowed to eat tomatoes, as they DO have inflammatory compounds.)