It was going to be amazing. Jars and jars of glorious spiced carrot and red lentil dal. Flavourful, warm, healthy meals ready to warm up and serve (to roaring acclaim) with a splash of cream and maybe a crusty loaf of bread.
I had the ingredients.
I had the ambition. I peeled and I chopped and I chopped.
I cooked the soup. I pureed it.
I served it for dinner, adding cream to the individual bowls.
The Dave had a canker sore, which made this soup a very painful proposition. Kid 1 tried it, said it was "okay, better than I expected." And Kid 2 ate a full bowl and was lavish with praise, going so far as to request it for lunch the next day. (You can guess who's got lead billing in the inheritance sweepstakes at the moment.)
But really, it was delicious. Definitely worthy of canning and keeping on hand.
Got out a dozen or so pint jars, washed them, started to heat them in the oven. Got out the pressure canner. The lid looked weird. There was a hole where there shouldn't be a hole. Got out the instructions for the pressure canner to see what was going on. Dammit! The top part of the "air vent/cover lock" was nowhere to be found. The bottom part was rolling around loose in the pressure canner. I looked and I looked. I swept out the pantry three times, hoping the fiddly little metal bit would magically appear. (Hey, it happened to the keys in "Making a Murderer.") Could not find it anywhere.
Apparently, it has gone to live with the blade from my Tupperware chopper and the lid of the spice grinder. They may be on the lam with the odd socks.
Bummer.
So I ladled it out into a ragtag assortment of Rubbermaid, Gladware, and Tupperware and stashed it in an already jam-packed freezer. The containers with the lids that don't quite fit are gingerly balanced in the fridge to be heated and put into thermoses for tomorrow's lunches.
It was going to be so pretty. Fortunately, it will still be delicious.
About the recipe: "Spiced Carrot and Red Lentil Dal" is from the Soup Sisters and Broth Brothers Cookbook. A not-for-profit organization, Soup Sisters and Broth Brothers offers soup-making events in cities all over Canada and a few in the US too. I highly recommend you consider soup-making as a fun get-together with your colleagues, clients, or friends. It's a good time, and there's a chef on hand to supervise and teach some mad knife skillz. The soup is then delivered to recipients in need such as local women's and youth shelters. Their tagline is "Hug in a bowl."
