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Tri-Lentil Miso Barley Stew

This is a global vegetarian, and actually vegan stew (or soup?), that is incredibly satisfying and filling. A Mediterranean mirepoix base, flavored with Indian spices, along with Asian miso, pull together a flavor connection from across the globe.  It goes especially well with a rich, crusty bread - like rosemary blue corn buckwheat focaccia, for example…  I’m just sayin’…


1/2 yellow sweet onion, finely diced
2 carrots, finely diced
2 stalks celery, finely diced
1 Tbsp panchpuran Indian spice mix (see Cook’s note)
1 leek, washed and finely diced
2 cloves garlic, minced

1/3 cup Massor lentils (Indian brown lentils)
1/3 cup Indian Horse Gram lentils
1/4 cup Toor dal (split pigeon pea)
1/4 cup barley

8 cups water
2 Tbsp red miso paste
1/2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes, or to taste

4 cups kale leaves, trimmed from ribs and cut into small pieces

Soak the horse gram lentils in a pot of water overnight, and until ready to cook - this is important as they are a tough dry bean to cook!

The next day, sauté the onion, carrot and celery in a dash of olive oil for about10 minutes, until starting to caramelize.  Add the panchpuran seeds and continue cooking another five minutes.
Add the leek and a quarter cup water.  Cook for about another five minutes, until all the water has evaporated.  
Add the garlic, and cook another 2-3 minutes.

Drain the horse gram lentils. Now add the lentils and barley to the pot.
Stir to combine well.
Add the water, miso and red pepper flakes to the pot and bring to a gentle boil.  Reduce heat to simmer.  Stir and cover.

Simmer soup for about an hour, or until the lentils are all cooked through, and the broth has thickened.  Now add the kale and cook another 20 minutes.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Serves 6.

Cook’s Note:  Panchpuran is a fantastic (and oh, so convenient) mix of spice seeds so often encountered in Indian cuisine.  The mix I find at a local Indian grocer consists of seeds of yellow mustard, fennel, fenugreek, cumin, and nigella sativa.  If you don’t have this, simply substitute cumin and fennel seeds for example.  Or spice the dish up with whatever fun Indian-related spices you might have on hand.
The lentils are another story.  The horse grams are really a small hard dried bean I recently discovered at a beautiful new local Indian grocer - delicious, but hard to cook (I learned here).  I did not soak them at first, and had to pressure cook this dish for about 30-40 minutes total (we did 10 minute stints in between outdoor walks), to fully cook the unsoaked horse gram. Of course you could simply substitute brown lentils - and be pleased as punch. More on horse gram in a later post, I am sure.
I used a rich red miso I bought at Wholefoods.

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