Lentil Rhubarb soup with Madras Curry Powder.

Rhubarb arrives late in spring and is the harbinger of summer. Its long, bright and burgundy stalks are irresistibly and incorrigibly tart and sour. Its like a sour patch candy that my favorite children’s character William ( by Richmal Crompton) would suck on as he plotted to destroy every adult’s peace and quiet. The sad solution to tempering the taste is to add sacks of sugar to it and bake it in a pie. I do not understand the concept of a rhubarb pie when there are naturally more sweeter fruits that make an easy partner to pie. Sour flavor is mellowed and enhanced by spice and salt and not sugar. Like raw mango pieces that I would coat with chili powder and salt and smack by tongue after chewing and swallowing.
My choice would be to cook the rhubarb with piquant, smoky, fragrant and freshly ground Madras curry powder along with root vegetables carrot and potatoes in a rhubarb lentil soup.
Madras curry powder is ubiquitous in my cooking. I use it in soups, for grilling vegetables, to marinate chicken and fish. Can take the girl out of Madras but not Madras out of the girl?
Le puy lentils have a sobering effect on spicy curry powder and the tangy rhubarb.
A third of a cup of red wine vinegar plays hand in hand with the rhubarb.
No dish with Madras curry powder is  complete without clarified butter or ghee which adds a creamy touch to the soup.
Serve with steaming hot jasmine rice and Bon Appetit!

4 stalks of rhubarb

The vegetables, 4 small onions, 10 pods of garlic, 5 potatoes and a bunch of carrots

                                                              Madras Curry Powder

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6 tsp of coriander seeds and 4 tsp of cumin

1 tsp of fennel, 2 sticks of cinnamon, 1 tsp of cloves, 1 tsp of cardamom.

2 tsp of turmeric powder, 4 tsp of black peppercorn and 4 dried red chilies

Toast in a pan

And grind

Your home is now a fragrant palace of spice

Saute diced onions 

Add cubed carrots and finely chopped garlic and saute

Next is cubed potatoes and diced rhubarb

Saute until soft 

Add 5-6 tsp of freshly ground piquant Madras curry powder and cook for a few min

2 and half cups of le puy lentils 

Which is pressure cooked

Wait for 3-4 whistles 

Add 2 lit of vegetable broth to pot 

Add sauteed and curried vegetables and the cooked lentils into the pot
and let boil

1/3 cup red wine vinegar

1/2 cup of ghee or clarified butter. 

Add red wine vinegar into the pot

Next is the clarified butter and let simmer for 15 min 

Add a bunch of finely diced cilantro and simmer for another 10 min 

Spicy, hearty tangy bowl of goodness

Serve with rice or rice noodles