Curried Red Lentil Soup With Jalepeno, Lemon And Ham Recipe

 Perhaps it's because I'm married to a Southerner from Louisiana, but the idea of putting a leftover cooked ham bone and jalapeno pepper in an otherwise traditional Asian Indian curried red lentil (dal) soup recipe seemed like a worthwhile experiment.  It's freezing in New York going down to the twenties tonight so a nice warm soup -- that cooks in less than a half hour --  was high on my list. Better yet, this recipe was made with food that I had in the fridge --- avoiding a trip outside to the grocery store.   Play around with the amount of curry and the vegetables -- perhaps add some celery or cilantro or a can of garbanzo beans (I did which made the soup into a rich almost stew like meal). This recipe can be made vegan using vegetable stock and no ham, which is more like a traditional vegetarian dal.  RECIPE SECRET: The addition of the lemon juice at the end is a must!