Family Meal – Split Pea and Turmeric Soup & Baby Food

My last family meal was a hit so I’m back with another one! This time I’m sharing a healing split pea and turmeric soup. After all that traveling for Thanksgiving, Elara came down with croup! She’s been rolling around sounding like Darth Vader. She is completely congested – nose and lungs. Poor baby ?. The hubby also has come down with a cold, so I’m basically desperate to make sure I don’t get what they have. And as well know by now, turmeric heals all. 

When I was little (and even now) my mom used to force me to drink, eat, and smother myself in turmeric. Pimples, put turmeric on it. Sore throat, drink turmeric milk. Sprained ankle, put turmeric on it.  She was convinced it would heal any ailment I would have. I hated it. I thought it tasted terrible, I hated the color and how it would stain EVERYTHING. She legit once made a warm paste with it and slathered it on my sprained ankle for 2 weeks. My ankle was stained yellow for a month and I got made fun of at school for having yellow feet.? And now with this whole golden milk movement, it’s only just validated her and has her telling me “I told you so”.

But now the moment I have dreaded has happened. I have officially become my mother. The moment I heard Elara coughing and sniffling, my first thought was that I should giver her some turmeric in her baby food. The cycle has now restarted.

This meal is actually quite tasty, it’s a mash-up of two dishes, Indian dal and an Ethiopian dish called kik alicha. Spices are introduced to babies pretty early in the Indian culture and turmeric is usually the first one. But if you have any worries, just ask your doctor how to introduce spices into your baby’s diet!

Also, I cooked the lentils in water initially since vegetable broth has salt in it, which is not good for baby.  After I removed the baby’s portion, I seasoned the rest up for the hubby and I!

Split Pea & Turmeric Soup + Baby Food

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• Yield: 2 servings for parents and 2 cups of baby puree (about 6 - 8 servings) 1x

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Ingredients

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• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 small white onion, minced
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 tbsp ginger, minced
• 3/4 tsp turmeric powder
• 1 cup yellow split pigeon peas (toor dal)
• 2 1/2 cups water
• 1 cup vegetable broth
• 1/2 tsp garam masala
• pinch red chili powder ( to taste)
• 1/2 cup kale or spinach, chopped (optional)

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Instructions

1. In a large sauce pan, heat oil on medium-low heat. Once oil is hot, add onion and sauté until translucent. Then add in ginger and garlic. Sauté for 1 minute. Add turmeric and sauté for 30 seconds. Add lentils and sauté for an additional 30 seconds. Add water and bring to a boil. Turn heat to low, cover and simmer for 30 minutes stirring every 10 minutes.

Baby puree

1. Once lentils are soft, pour 2 cups of lentil soup into a tall container and blend with a stick blender. Add additional water/breastmilk or formula to thin it out if necessary. Then pour into a ice cube tray and freeze until ready to feed. Thaw in the microwave in 20 second increments, stirring between until you get your desired temperature.

For Parents

1. Add vegetable broth, salt to taste, garam masala, red chili powder, and chopped kale/spinach to the rest of the lentil soup. Simmer for 5-10 minutes. You can either blend this with a stick/immersion blender until it is smooth, or enjoy it while chunky! Enjoy!

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