Many of us are used to eating the classic Minestrone, Tomato, and other similar type of Soups. Often soup recipes are cycled regularly within a household using tomato or beef broth flavour hence, the reason for this post. We wanted to give you, as always, Stronger Leaner Faster Food that is easy to prepare, nutritious and in this case low calorie.
Protein Rich
This soup recipe is authentically Indian but, easy as pie! It uses legumes, whole black lentils and kidney beans, as the main ingredients. Interesting fact about legumes is that they are able to take large amounts of Nitrogen from the air and convert it to protein in the seeds. So, if you are trying to increase your protein intake, without additional calories found in meats, along with preservatives and artificial sugars from protein powders, be sure to give this superfood a try.
Low Calorie
Soups are a great way to save time spent in the kitchen. Often, you can turn on the stove and just let the food cook while finishing up household chores or other scheduled activities. The best thing about this recipe is that it’s not only easy to prepare and nutritious, it’s also low in digestible calories. We discuss this topic of Carbs and high Fiber foods are low in calories in The No-Diet Book.
As a food group, legumes are vastly under-consumed in the western culture. Possible reason for this missed opportunity, perhaps due to their expression as “poor-man’s” food throughout the past century. However, in this modern day when most of us struggle with weight, often having a predominantly monotonous diet of corn and wheat, it is essential to add variety to our nutritional profile. Legumes possess numerous benefits including their ease of preparation, taste, satiety and nutrient content. Furthermore, due to numerous types of legumes, many tasty recipes are steadily emerging, as people are re-discovering this delicious food source.
Nutritional Value
Legumes are high in protein, dietary fiber, carbohydrates and dietary minerals. There is no need to worry about high carb value here as most of these carbs come from fiber and will be either eliminated as waste or broken down in the large intestine to produce health benefiting short-chain fatty acids. This topic is discussed in greater detail in our The No-Diet Book.
Legume consumption has been linked to positively benefiting metabolic syndromes by improving blood sugar levels, decreasing body fat, and lowering cholesterol.
Legumes and the Three letter word!
Let’s face it—you’re gonna get gas, be it from take-out due to indigestion or IBS; or from high fiber foods, at least this one comes with health benefits. So, choose your gas. The good news, your body overtime gets used to fiber and will digest it better thereby decreasing the amount of gas produced. The reason for this adaptation is likely due to increased production of required fiber digesting enzymes.
Furthermore, all things worth while are challenging at the beginning but become part of the system with continuous practice. That’s the Stronger Leaner Faster method!
So, don’t shy away from legumes due to possible flatulence. The numerous benefits of legumes greatly outweigh the few unpleasantries.
6-Pack Abs
As a side note from personal experience. If you wish to cut down calories while maintaining nutritional requirements and feeling full after a meal, eat more legumes. This is one of our secret to 24/7 Abs – Check out our Free ebook Sweater Weather Body.
Indian lentil and Bean Dhal Recipe
1 cup Whole Black Mapte Beans/Lentils – Dry
1/2 cup Kidney Beans – Dry
Turka – Ginger/Garlic Saute
1 medium Onion – small dice
1 medium Tomato – small dice
1 tbsp Ginger – grated
2-3 cloves Garlic – grated
2 tbsp EVOO
1 tbsp Butter (optional)
Spices
1.5 tsp Turmeric
1 tbsp Garam Masala (home made or store bought)
1/2 tsp Fenugreek leaves—dry (optional)
1 tbsp Salt
1 tbsp Black Pepper (optional) or 1/2 tsp Cyanne Pepper (optional)
Serving
Fresh Cilantro leaves
Red Onion – Small Dice
——
Night Before
Throughly wash lentils and beans 4-5 times until water runs clear. Soak in large bowl overnight.
On high heat, add in the lentil/beans along with the water to a large pot. Add more water 3-4 times, water to lentil/bean ratio. Bring to boil and then drop the heat down to medium-low for rapid simmer.
In a separate small pot, make Turka. Add oil to hot pan, add in the onion, ginger, garlic, turmeric, garam masala, fenugreek seeds, salt and pepper. Cook for 3-4 minutes until you can smell the spices and the mixture starts to stick together. Add in the tomatoes. Mix on medium-low heat for another 3-4 minutes until the mixture once again starts to from a ball.
Add the Turka mixture to the lentil/beans. Cover pot and cook until lentils/beans cooked through. About 1-1.5 hours from start to finish. Mix throughout cooking as needed.
Serving suggestions – Top off the soup with fresh chopped cilantro leaves and small diced red onion as desired.
- Enjoy as a soup with a side of Nan Bread or toast as desired.
- Add Dal on top of brown basmati rice and enjoy as vegetarian rice bowl.
