Liberate Your Leftovers With Soupman Lentil and Leftovers Curry

Ahh, the holidays.

Giant meals and dinners with relatives. One of the best things about the holiday season is the food. But, once the meals are over and the relatives have packed up and gone, it’s leftovers for days.

Is it any wonder stretchy pants are so popular this time of year? Don’t get us wrong, there’s nothing wrong with some good ol’ fashioned leftovers – great food that’s already paid for? Sign us up.

But, there is a limit.

We’ve all played the leftovers song-and-dance. Sure, the first two or three times eating the same meal isn’t so bad. Maybe you go a little crazy with the cheez whiz and make a sandwich to break up the monotony.

But, by the fourth meal of the same food with the same flavors, things start to go downhill. You start eyeing takeout menus, convince yourself (too easily) that maybe the food isn’t “good” anymore (like, who really knows the shelf-life of macaroni and cheese), and make an unnecessary trip to the grocery store just so you can catch a glimpse of other foods on the market. But it doesn’t have to be this way.

We have a solution. And it just so happens to involve soup.

Enter Soupman Lentil and Leftovers Curry. What’s Soupman Lentil and Leftovers Curry, you ask? Just the answer to all your leftover blues. This curry is a people-pleaser.

We don’t just mean that people will be pleased when you serve it to them, we mean the curry itself is desperate to be friends with all the leftovers in your house.

Potatoes? This curry wants them. Brussels sprouts? This curry does a little dance and makes room. Practically any vegetable or meat lurking in a Tupperware container at the back of your fridge pairs nicely with the spices and lentil soup that make up the base of this dish. Take a step back and let that sink in.

Chef’s Notes:

The ingredients below are recommended due to the vast amount of us having potatoes and onions on hand after a holiday, but that doesn’t mean the fun has to end there!

 

The best part about this curry is how staggeringly versatile it is – brussels sprouts, butternut squash, peas, and practically any seasonal veggie would make an excellent addition to this dish.

 

Furthermore, we’ve developed this recipe to be vegetarian-inclusive, but if you have carnivorous inclinations, chicken or turkey work especially well in this dish (we suggest adding it in while you’re sautéing the onions so that it gets to extra time to hang out with the spices).

 

The potatoes we used for this recipe were fresh, but if you have roast potatoes on hand already, they make a suitable substitution – just cuts down the cooking time!

 

Finally, if you are adding more than the volume of vegetables and/or meat outlined below, don’t forget to adjust your spices!

The Original Soupman™ Lentils and Leftover Curry

Ingredients:

• Butter – 3 tbsp
• Onion – 1 ½ cups, diced
• Potatoes – 3 lbs, diced
• Garlic – 3 cloves, grated
• Ginger (Fresh) – 1 tbsp, grated
• Curry Paste – 3 tbsp
• Curry powder – 2 tbsp
• Turmeric – 3 tsp
• Ginger (Ground) – 2 tsp
• Cayenne – ½ tsp
• Coriander – 1 tbsp
• Cumin – 3 tsp
• One pack Original Soupman Lentil Soup
• Greek Yogurt – ~5 oz
• Salt, to taste

Optional:

• Cilantro, to garnish
• Chili oil, for an extra kick of spice
• Rice, to serve over

Preparation:

1. Heat the butter in a skillet over medium heat until just melted. Add the onions and sauté for 2-3 minutes. Grate in garlic and ginger. Add curry paste, curry powder, turmeric, ground ginger, cayenne, coriander, cumin, and salt.
2. Stir to ensure spices are mixed evenly and leave to sauté until onions have soaked in the color of the spices and turned soft (roughly 10 minutes).
   
3. Pour in Original Soupman Lentil Soup and thoroughly mix with your base. Taste test and make any necessary adjustments to spices (remember, you’ll be adding in yogurt later on which helps balance the heat, so it’s ok if it’s a bit spicy at this point).
   
4. Add in potatoes and bring sauce to a simmer. Cover with a lid (if you don’t have one, tin foil works well) and let simmer for 30-35 minutes, stirring occasionally to verify nothing is sticking to the bottom (if it is, scrape it with a wooden spoon and lower the heat). Potatoes are done when you can easily fork them – if they give you any grief, cover them until they have an attitude adjustment.
5. After the potatoes are ready to go, add in the Greek yogurt and stir until fully incorporated. That’s it!

We suggest garnishing with cilantro and serving over rice, but it’s your life and we’re not your supervisor (seriously, we checked).

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