Lentil Broccoli Soup with Cornmeal Dumplings

This is the time of the year when our temperatures on the island drop quite low (for us here at least) and the nights are COLD.
Wearing socks and warm nightwear and having an extra cover are all a must during the months of January to March.
A couple of nights ago, our temperature dropped to 19 degrees Celsius.
I know..... I know..... that's nothing for those of you living in colder climes, but for us, it was something to talk about.
The cold actually woke me up that night, and I had to crawl out of my warm comfy spot to find a jacket and some thicker socks and a scarf for my head to trap my body warmth inside to prevent it from escaping....ooooh....brrrrr......it was so cold that night.
One of my Weather Watchers forum members even said her dog was shivering, and he lives inside.
Brownie lives inside too, but I do give him a blanket for the extra cold nights.  He would initially lie on the blanket but during the night he would sleep wherever he liked on the floor as usual.

The days are quite nippy too.
I don't even think of going outside before the sun is high and shining really bright which helps to take some of the chill away.....mind you it's still cold for us here when it's like this.

With all these low temperatures during this time of year, I love to enjoy a hot bowl of soup to warm up the innards....it really helps.

Lentil Broccoli Soup with Cornmeal Dumplings

A couple of days ago, I made a big pot of delicious Lentil Broccoli Soup with Cornmeal Dumplings and shared some with daughter dear and froze the remainder in individual portions.

Yummy hot bowl of soup

Without further ado, here is the recipe for my Lentil Broccoli Soup with Cornmeal Dumplings

Lentil Broccoli Soup with Cornmeal Dumplings

In a pot put:

Oil to sautee

4 cloves Garlic -cut in small pieces

1 Onion cut small

Fresh Guyanese thyme

Rosemary - 1/4 sprig chopped in pieces

Garlic chives

2 tablespoons Bajan Seasoning - chopped assortment of chives, hot pepper, thyme, marjoram, celery, parsley, ginger, oregano, garlic etc

Minced fresh ginger - small piece

Turmeric - 1 tablespoon

Garam Masala - 1 tablespoon

Stir fry everything until tender.

Add broth (leftover pasta water stored in freezer)

1-1/2 cups of lentils

I grated carrot

I chopped tomato

I large head of broccoli cut in pieces

1 tablespoon Bajan pepper sauce

1 tablespoon of salt

Water to fill the pot

Cook until tender.

Add another tablespoon of oil to the pot.

Blend a little bit of the soup....leaving some chunky bits intact.

Cornmeal Flour Dumplings

In a bowl mix flour, corn meal, vanilla essence, baking powder and a little sugar.

Mix together with hands and form a ball.

Form small dumplings and drop in soup 5 minutes before it is done.  Dumplings will float to the top when finished.
Approximate measurements are 1-1/2 cups flour, 1 cup cornmeal, 1 teaspoon vanilla essence and maybe 2 tablespoons sugar)

ENJOY!!