Mr F's Curried Lentil Soup!

I'm featuring this because it was so good, and despite Mr F's complaints about the Recipe Scrapbook slideshow I posted below ... to be honest, it IS annoying that you can't stop on the individual pictures and enlarge them, but after managing to master making the slideshow AT ALL, I expected nothing but praise! Here is his recipe anyway, and you will recognise that it is in his own words.

Curried Lentil Soup

1. The Soup:

2 tbsp. oil
1 tsp. mustard seed
Onion - 1 large, 2 medium, peeled, chopped
Potato - 1 large, 2 medium, peeled, diced
Carrots - 2 large, 3 medium, peeled, quartered, chopped
250 g. red lentils
Water (boiled)
Salt (lots!)

Heat mustard seed in oil until it crackles. Add onion, fry until browned. Add potato,
carrots and lentils. Stir and fry for 1 minute or so, and then add boiling water and salt.

2. In a saucer, combine:

1 tsp. Schwartz curry powder and 1/2 tsp. each of turmeric, garam masala, coriander,
cumin, fenugreek, cayenne pepper, ginger, ground allspice, paprika and 1/4 tsp. crushed
chillies.

Toss into soup and stir. Boil up for 30 mins. Sorted.

Only Children by Alison Lurie

Here is Alison Lurie's website, for anyone who is interested in reading more about this intelligent author.

Alison Lurie is very often described as witty, but I think that is more in the sense of her observations being clever, wry and apposite rather than in the sense of lightheartedly amusing. (Although I did laugh out loud at The Last Resort in a few unexpectedly hilarious scenes). Only Children I found rather sad, although as good a read as usual. The character of Mary Anne, a feisty 9-year-old, is very well drawn and appealing (even when she has a terrible temper tantrum).

Another interesting aspect of Alison Lurie is the way her characters pop up in different books at different ages, and you get to see them from a different angle.

Day 92; Book 89