Curried Lentil Soup

Dylan is still doing the vegetarian thing and he asked me to make him something "curry". I found this recipe on line and it turned out pretty good.

I adjusted the recipe a little. Hope you like it.

2 T Olive Oil
1 large Onion diced
2 garlic cloves, coarsely chopped
2 medium carrots, peeled and diced
1 1/2" Fresh Ginger, minced
1 C portabella mushrooms, diced
2 T tomato paste
1 heaping T Garlic Chili Paste
1 C dried lentils
6 C vegetable stock
14 1/2 oz can diced tomatoes with juice
3 T curry powder
1 t dried thyme
2 t fresh cracked pepper
1/4 cup fresh cilantro, to garnish

Directions
Preheat a cast iron pan or heavy frying pan over medium heat. Heat the olive oil.
Add the onions and garlic and saute for 3-5 minutes until they begin to brown.
Add the carrots, ginger and portobellos and saute for another 3-5 minutes until the mushrooms begin to absorb the oil. Season this step with 1/2 tsp pepper and salt to taste. Honestly, I think you could skip this step and just throw everything in the crockpot.

Add the tomato paste and chili paste and stir just to combine the vegetables.

In the bottom of your crock pot, add the curry powder, oregano, thyme and remaining pepper. Add the sauteed vegetables and lentils and mix well.
Pour in the can of diced tomatoes and stock. Stir to combine.

Cook in a crock pot on high heat for 6 hours or low for 10 hours.

I like ginger so this is how much I added