• 1 tablespoon peanut oil
• 1 yellow onion, chopped
• 1 tsp. dried ginger
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 pinch ground fenugreek seeds (I'd never heard of these, but there they were in the spice aisle!)
• 1 cup dry red lentils
• 1 cup butternut squash - peeled, seeded, and cubed (I used left-over, pre-cooked African squash--it's much easier to cube butternut squash after it's cooked)
• 1/3 cup finely chopped fresh cilantro
• 3 c. vegetable broth
• 1 (14 ounce) can light coconut milk
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste
• 2 teaspoons curry powder
• 1 pinch cayenne pepper
• 1 pinch ground nutmeg
• salt and pepper to taste

1. Heat the oil in a large pot over medium heat, and cook the onion, ginger, garlic, and fenugreek 5 min., or until onion is tender.
2. Mix the lentils, squash, and cilantro into the pot. Stir in the broth, coconut milk, and tomato paste. Season with curry powder, cayenne pepper, nutmeg, salt, and pepper. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low, and simmer 30 minutes, or until lentils and squash are tender.
3. (www.danandsally.com)

My husband, who loves lentil soup, was very taken with this dish. It was sorta like a Thai version of lentil soup. My best friend (who was visiting that night) and I are not huge lentil soup fans; we thought the dish was good but not great. The consistency was more like a stew than a soup. It was definitely a hearty vegetarian dish. At around 300 calories and 15g of fat per serving, it's a very reasonable meal for people being careful of such things, so if you dig lentil soup, check it out. To serve with it, I toasted 1 whole piece of whole-wheat pita bread with two teaspoons of butter patted on it. The butter melted and left the pita tasting more like Indian flatbread than pita bread; it was great. We cut the pita into thirds to share.