Brooke over at Crackers on the Couch is the kind of person you want to know: down-to-earth, hilarious, creative, and full of love and encouragement. You might remember her during the holiday series, The 12 Days of Christmas Cookies, that she so graciously invited me to convert her cookie recipes and post alongside of her. I can always count on this girl to make me laugh so hard with her comments! She is one well-worth keeping an eye on…

Cara, thanks so much for allowing me to guest post today!  You are so playful with your food and really inspired me as I was working on this project.  I am so excited to share my final post in the series here with your readers!  To give everyone an update, this week I’ve been posting a series of Superhero soups that were kicked off by my son asking for Batman Soup.  You wouldn’t believe how excited my boys have been to be test subjects for these! Now they expect everything I serve them to have a Superhero theme! (Today we had “Twisty Man” pasta.  Never heard of “Twisty Man?” Yeah, that’s ‘cuz Mama got desperate.  His superpower is the ability to taste yummy under beans, tomatoes, and sour cream…) Today’s superhero actually exists outside our household, though he may be slightly less known than most.  He is: The Thing.

Unlike the rest of my Souperheroes, I don’t have a dim, fond memory of The Thing.  I really don’t know much about him except he’s strong and he has super thick skin and a crummy attitude.  And he’s part of the Fantastic Four and he got his superpowers accidentally when the experimental spaceship he was flying was pelted by cosmic rays.  And I know all this because Wikipedia is awesome.  But what I did know about him (before my enlightening Wikipedia visit) is he’s yellow and rocky looking.  And you know what I love to eat that’s yellow and rocky looking?  Daal.  I love Indian food.  This recipe is inspired by Indian cooking, though not super authentic because, well… you know… I’m not Indian… It’s as authentic as a Southern girl transplanted to Seattle by way of California can get…

The (Yellow Split Pea Daal) Thing
Yield: 6 Servings

1 large onion, chopped
2 large cloves garlic, sliced
2 tsp whole cumin seed
1 tsp turmeric
1 Tbs olive oil
2 C yellow split peas
4 C water
2 C vegetable stock
Salt and pepper
3 C cooked Jasmine rice
plain yogurt

Heat olive oil in a large stock pot and brown onion and garlic.  As onion becomes translucent, add cumin seed and turmeric.  When onions are done browning, add yellow split peas, water and stock.  Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer until split peas have softened, 20-30 minutes.  Salt and pepper to taste.  Serve with rice and yogurt.  And maybe a nice roti if you can get your hands on it…

Review:
Thing #1 loved it.  Thing #2 not so much (“Too spicy!,” he says.  It’s totally not spicy, he just didn’t want to eat it.)  Mr. Crackers and I like it very much.  Next time, I think I’ll try some fresh curry leaves in it and see what happens.

 

 If you enjoyed this post, I’ve got a week’s worth of vegan, gf Souperheroes waiting for you over on my blog and more to come as I think of them!  Thanks again, Cara!  You’re the best!

Check out Brooke’s other super creative SouperHero soups:

Incredible Minted Green Pea Soup

Wonder Woman Watermelon Soup

Batman Black Bean Soup

Iron Man Roast Borscht