This soup is basically a blend of what our Amma would make for us as little kids and a soup that my friend Neha's mother made that she introduced to me. Amma would make a South Indian style parupu/kootu (lentils) with beets and Neha's mother had come up with a recipe of dal soup with beets. To make it a bit more filling and to suit our tastebuds I have made some changes to this recipe which ends up being a wholesome meal in itself and is an extremely easy one pot quick recipe that is achievable on a weeknight!
Another thing that is great about this recipe is that you can use the entire beet bunch including the beet greens in this recipe!
You will need:
Aromatics:
1 tbsp oil
1 shallot chopped (or 1/4 onion)
1 garlic pod minced
Veggies:
3 beets chopped
beet greens from the beet bunch chopped (or any greens, I have plenty of choice from my Gardyn)
Lentils:
3/4 cup red lentils
Grain:
1/2 cup quinoa
Seasonings:
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
1/2 tsp red chilli powder
1 tsp coriander powder
salt per taste
Soup base:
4 cups vegetable broth (or 4 cups water)
Garnish:
lime juice from 1/2 lime
Method:
Heat oil in Instant Pot (IP) in saute mode. Saute the aromatics. Add in the veggies, lentils and grain. Mix in the seasonings and soup base to this. Close the IP lid and set the valve to sealed mode. Cook at manual high pressure for 6 minutes. Wait for natural pressure release. Add lime juice at the end. Mix well and serve hot.
Note:
Given one of our family members has limited teeth (well also because my 18 month old is a bit lazy to chew, haha!) I like to have the beets very well cooked. Hence I cook it for 6 minutes. If you don't want to overcook the beets, just the red lentils and beets should take 3 minutes to cook. So you could always reduce your cooking time even further.
ENJOY!
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