Green Lentil Soup with Curried Brown Butter
A favorite green lentil soup topped with a curried brown butter drizzle, and pan-fried paneer cubes.
One of my favorite cold-weather soups - green lentils (or split peas), topped with a curried brown butter drizzle, and pan-fried paneer cubes. Some of you might recognize it from Super Natural Every Day. 
It's a soup I revisit often, and these photos are outtakes of it that ran in an early issue of Kinfolk magazine. I did a short little essay about winter (volume two!), and it ran alongside with some pictures Wayne and I contributed.
Here's the deal. The magic here is the curried brown butter drizzle. Don't skip it. Also, a good chunk of hearty sourdough really elevates the whole experience. Or! Some good naan or paratha.
You can certainly explore a vegan version though. You could infuse some olive oil or coconut oil with spices, and brown some tofu in place of paneer. A different beast, but also really good. Not brown butter good on the flavor front, but still good. ;)
I also want to note there are some great variation ideas down in the comments.
More Lentil Soup Recipes
- Nine Great Lentil Soups
- Coconut Red Lentil Soup
- Red Lentil Soup with Lemon
- Lively Up Yourself Lentil Soup
- Curried Tomato Tortellini Soup (with lentils)
- Coconut Yellow Split Pea Soup
- Vegetarian Split Pea Soup
- all soup recipes
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Green Lentil Soup with Curried Brown Butter
You can use either green lentils of green split peas here. Both are delicious, but the green split peas tend to lend a brighter green color to the soup.
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, ghee, or extra-virgin coconut oil
- 1 large yellow onion, chopped
- 3 cloves garlic, chopped
- 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
- 5 1/2 cups / 1.3 liters good-tasting vegetable broth or water
- 1 1/2 cups / 10.5 oz / 300 g green lentils or green split peas, picked over and rinsed
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1 tablespoon Indian curry powder
- 1/2 cup / 125 ml coconut milk
- Fine-grain sea salt
- 1 bunch fresh chives, minced
- small cubes of pan-fried paneer (optional)
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Combine the 2 tablespoons butter, onion, garlic, and red pepper flakes in a large soup pot over medium heat, stirring regularly, until the onions soften, a couple minutes. Add the vegetable broth and lentils and simmer, covered, until the lentils are tender. This usually takes 20 to 30 minutes, but can take as long as 50 minutes.
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In the meantime, warm the 3 tablespoons butter in a small saucepan over medium heat and let it brown. When it starts to smell nutty and fragrant, stir in the curry powder and sauté until the spices are fragrant, less than a minute. When the lentils are finished cooking, remove from the heat, stir in the coconut milk and 1/4 teaspoon salt, and puree with an immersion blender. You can leave the soup a bit chunky if you like, or puree until it is perfectly smooth.
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Stir in half of the spiced butter, taste, and add more salt, if needed, typically a couple of teaspoons if you used water instead of a salted broth. Serve drizzled with the remaining spice butter and sprinkled with chives, (and paneer cubes if you're using them).
Serves 4 to 6.
from Super Natural Every Day by Heidi Swanson, copyright © 2011. Published by Ten Speed Press, a division of Random House, Inc.
Related Recipes
Nine Great Lentil Soups to Choose From
Absolutely everyone needs a great lentil soup in their cooking repertoire. Here's a selection of some of the best.
Coconut Red Lentil Soup (Esalen Ayurvedic Dal)
A vibrant red lentil soup (or stew) that is always hugely popular. A friend turned me onto this Ayurvedic dal recipe from the Esalen Cookbook years ago. Red lentil based, curry-spiced coconut broth with back notes of ginger and tomato, with slivered green onions, and a finish of cilantro or kale.
Curried Tomato Tortellini Soup
A crowd-pleasing tomato-based tortellini soup, dotted with plump, tender dumplings, spiked with a range of spices, and boosted with plenty of spinach.
Lively Up Yourself Lentil Soup
This quick lentil soup recipe delivers layer after layer of flavor. The tang of the tomatoes plays off the earthiness of the lentils, and the fragrant bolt of saffron yogurt brightens each bowl.
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Comments
Happy New Year! Hope this coming one is filled with warm bowls in light just like this- the light! beautiful. Cheers to you both, a
Soup looks amazing. Just found your blog yesterday. Great site. Thanks and keep up the good work!
Gosh, sometimes I get the feeling you live in an Anthropologie catalogue! And I mean that in the most sincerely flattering way! I have made all of your lentil soups and the Coconut Red Lentil one has become a staple. Can't wait to try this one.
Heidi - Happy New Year to You. This soup looks creamy and delicious. Do you find that you need to do anything special to best enjoy any leftovers?
HS: Just thin it out with a bit of water (or broth) Noelle - happy new year!
Perfect for the cold, wet and windy weather we're having at the moment. Making an Indian buffet for New Year's Eve and this may just have to be included. Happy New Year x
Oh for a quite moment and a cup of hot soup! Great photos, and a happy New Year to you, too.
Wow. I've been look for a use for a random supply of lentils I came across. This looks great and rustic on the table with the bread.
Belated Christmas and very happy new year to you from us in Sarawak, Malaysia.
I've been meaning to make this soup since I bought SNED, but I haven't yet. This is just the kick in the pants I needed.
That looks fabulous!!!
I too got "Super Natural Every Day" for Christmas. I made two things from the book today. My son helped me make the multigrain pancakes for brunch and I made the egg salad for dinner with my potato soup. I have to confess that I never really knew how to boil eggs properly...tehe. Both were wonderful and I don't know why I never thought of using yougart instead of mayo. Thanks so much!!
Oh, I cannot tell you how good it is to hear that I'm not the only one with a growing pile of flour & crumbs making their way through my apartment from the kitchen... not to mention the random passing of a cat hair tumbleweed. But I'm more happy to hear you have a piece in the new Kinfolk. I just ordered mine the other day. I can guarantee the laundry will have to wait when it arrives!
I just got your new cookbook for christmas and I am loving it! I am reading it front to back and marking many pages along the way that I can't wait to try! Thanks! Happy New Year!
This is great! I had been looking for a lentil soup recipe for New Years' Eve. I think I found it....And I love your description of home at the holidays, everything piling up. It is the same here. Happy New Year!
This is the first recipe of yours I made after accidentally finding your book at the library. It is SO good. The brown butter drizzle is a great idea, I'd never done that before. Thanks!
I love that this post captures part of your day-to-day life, since that is what good recipes are all about.
That looks gorgeous. I haven't attempted green split peas yesterday, although I'm a big fan of yellow. It's got several ingredients I haven't got but may well need to pick up to have a go. Anything that goes well with paneer is good with me!
this sounds absolutely heavenly! the perfect soup for the new year.
Happy New Year to you! Here's to another great year of posts and recipes from 101cookbooks.com (and perhaps get another book in the works?)!
This looks amazing! And I love how the prep time is not too long at all. Simple and hearty! Looking forward to giving this a try.