This is the first recipe I’ve posted in a long time. I’m going to start posting simple recipes using ingredients easily available in Phnom Penh. I don’t claim to be a great cook, but I love to eat. I like recipes that are simple, economical, and taste good (to me). Feel free to post a review or suggestions.
This recipe makes a very tasty pot of stewed lentils with pork and vegetables. It’s a huge amount in order to provide leftovers for days, so you might want to cut the recipe in half, especially if you don’t have a really big wok and/or stock pot.
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup olive oil or vegetable oil
- 1/3 cup butter
- 1 onion, chopped
- 2-3 carrots, diced
- 4-6 cloves garlic, minced
- The spices I used: a pinch of sage, a few shakes of thyme, even more shakes of parsley, more shakes of ground oregano, and 2 or 3 tablespoons of goram masala (I buy cheap spices at the grocery store in Paragon and all kinds of Indian spices at the India/Bangladesh grocer on Street 282 just 50 meters west of 63 in BKK)
- 1 (28 ounce) can of tomatoes (whole or crushed)
- 4-5 cups dry lentils (washed and soaked in advance) (I used one bag of the yellow split ones, for faster cooking, which I got at the India/Bangladesh grocer mentioned above)
- 6 cups chicken broth plus 2 cups water (I used a large can of Swansons from Lucky Market)
- 4 cups of mustard greens, rinsed and chopped (also from Lucky)
- 3 potatoes, cubed
- 1 package ground pork (320 grams, from Lucky)
- salt and pepper, to taste
1. Cut and prepare the vegetables in advance. Make sure you have a really big wok and/or a big stock pot. If not cut the recipe in half.)
2. Add olive oil and butter to a very large wok (or large soup pot) on medium heat.
3. Add minced garlic and ground pork. Cook until pork is browned.
4. Add lentils and cook about 8 minutes while stirring constantly.
5. Add vegetables. Keep stirring and cook a few more minutes (until the mixture is just starting to stick to the wok).
5. Pour in the can of chicken broth and the can of tomatoes. (Note: If you can only find whole tomatoes, cut them up in the can a bit…)
6. Add the spices and then salt and pepper to taste.
7. Cover and simmer for at least 2 hours. Add 2 cups of water more or less as needed. (Note: I transferred the soup into a large stock pot at this point.)
8. Remove from heat and let it rest. Or eat it right away if it’s already 8:30 at night and you have starving kids who can’t wait any longer. I suggest serving it with fresh baguettes.
Or take out a loaf of bread and dust off the ants like we did.
The soup turned out very well. All five of us liked it very much. The soup had a lot of flavor thanks to the hearty combination of pork, lentils, chicken broth, and spices. I wanted to get spinach, but I think the mustard greens were perfect.
I would do this again without changing a thing.