This Sri Lankan vegetable soup is all I crave when I'm sick and have no appetite for any other food. It's light, healthy, delicious and very comforting. Super easy to make too.
Heat a soup pot and add butter into it. Keep the heat medium. Add garlic and and curry leaves. Sauté until garlic turns soft. (curry leaves splatter when added to hot butter. be careful)
Add carrot, leeks, celery and cabbage (sliced green bean is also a common vegetable that you can add). Also add salt (do not add too much as many broths contain salt). Sauté until leeks turns wilted and soft.
Then add potatoes, tomatoes and red lentils. Sauté for about a minute. Add the broth. Mix everything. Cover and simmer until all the potatoes are fully cooked and mashable. Turn off the heat.
Now using an emersion blender, blend the soup until about half of the vegetable pieces are blended*. (Or you can transfer half of the soup to a regular blender and blend it)
Turn the heat back on and bring the soup to simmer. Add noodles. Cook until noodles are about 80% cooked (it will continue to cook with the residual heat). Add black pepper and turn off the heat. Adjust salt if necessary.