Debbie’s Lentil, Chana Dal, and Red Rice Soup

This is a great crockpot soup that I adapted, rather heavily, from someone else's recipe (that is, I changed nearly every ingredient). It cooks nicely overnight, in about 8 hours, and makes 10 cups. One cup is a nice pre-meal course; 2 cups is an entire meal that really stays with you.

If you can't find red rice, you may substitute brown rice. Chana dal is commonly found in Indian grocery stores, and at Whole Foods. It looks like yellow split peas, but actually is quite different. It's wonderfully low on the glycemic index.

Likewise, garam masala (a spice mixture) is available from Indian groceries, or you may find recipes on the Web to mix your own.

Sometimes I vary the recipe by using diced ham or prosciutto, rather than bacon. (Sometimes I use pork bacon.) Also, I occasionally use different spice mixtures, such as Moroccan.

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Debbie’s Lentil, Chana Dal, and Red Rice Soup
Makes 10 cups
Crockpot recipe

1 onion, coarsely chopped
2 tbsp olive oil
½ cup lentils
½ cup chana dal
½ cup Bhutanese red rice
2 carrots, cleaned and thin sliced
2 celery stalks, washed and thin sliced
8 oz turkey bacon, chopped and fried crisp
64 oz Pacific Organic Low Sodium chicken broth
2 tsp garam masala
minced garlic, to taste (fresh or dried)
Salt and pepper, to taste

Saute onion in olive oil until soft and slightly browned. Put in crockpot. Add to pot: lentils, chana dal, rice, carrots, celery, turkey bacon, broth and garam masala. Add salt, if desired (I add NoSalt, a potassium salt, to keep the recipe low sodium.)

Cook on low heat for 6 - 8 hours.

Nutrition info (calculated from ingredients):
Per cup:

Calories 156
Fat gm 4
Chol gm 20
Sodium gm 229
Carb gm 21
Fiber gm 4
Sugar gm 3
Protein gm 11
Vit A % 215
Vit C % 3
Calc % 1
Iron % 10

Sodium content varies with ingredients. I use low-sodium broth; using regular will up the sodium content, as will the use of regular salt. Likewise, the meat that you use will affect the saltiness of the soup.