Vegan Lemony Lentil Turnip Chowder is chock-full of spicy turnips and nutrition-packed lentils, with the classic, bright & tangy flavor combo of dill and lemon.
Heat 1 tablespoon of water in a large pot or Dutch oven over medium heat. Add the onion, garlic and celery, and sauté for 5 minutes or until soft.
Add the turnips, lentils and celery seed, and mix well until everything is coated and hot.
Add vegetable broth and coconut milk (or plant milk), and heat until it almost begins to boil. Then reduce the heat, cover and simmer until the turnips and lentils are tender, 15-20 minutes.
Add the lemon juice and zest.
Ladle 3 cups of the soup into a blender and blend on medium speed until just creamy, being careful to allow steam to escape. Don't over blend. Add the blended soup back to the pot. Or, use an immersion blender and blend half the soup in the pot-see notes.
Add the chopped dill, season with salt and pepper to taste, and stir.
Garnish with a few sprigs of fresh dill, if desired.
Notes
See the article above for more tips, substitutions and variations.
Saturated fat. If you want to avoid saturated fat, you can replace the light coconut milk with plant milk. But if you do occasionally include light coconut milk in your diet, it adds a nice flavor to this soup.
Blender. For the quickest result with less clean up, use an immersion blender to process some--about half--of the soup until creamy, while leaving the rest chunky. To make sure you still have chunks of turnip (if desired), blend for only about 15-30 seconds. But if you want to have complete control over how much soup gets blended, use a regular blender to blend half the soup.