Vegan, gluten-free, and delicious! Lentils are so wonderful — like their legume cousins, they are low in fat, high in fiber and protein — and they cook very quickly. There is no need to soak them overnight or do any extra cooking to get them recipe-ready. We will be having lentils in another dish next week as well, so stay tuned for that.
In the meantime, this is a delicious, easy and inexpensive soup. You don’t have to buy lentil soup in a can! Make a big pot of this soup over the weekend, and you will have easy lunches or dinners ready for reheating during the week.
The spices in this soup are great for warming the stomach, and reducing inflammation in the body. It is a wonderful soup for a chilly fall or winter day. You will like the kick the lemon juice gives it too.
Ingredients:
4 Tbsp Olive Oil
1 large onion, finely chopped
2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
1 cup celery, finely chopped (reserve leaves for garnish)
1 cup carrots, finely chopped
1 tsp dried, ground turmeric
1 tsp dried, ground ginger (you could grate fresh ginger into the soup if you like, but use a little less as it is quite pungent)
1 tsp dried, ground cumin
4 to 6 cups of water or vegetable broth (I used Imagine brand “No-Chickn Broth” in today’s soup)
1 1/4 cups green or brown lentils (the flat variety), well washed and picked over (beware of little pebbles mixed in!)
Sea salt to taste
For garnish — chopped fresh celery leaves, cilantro, mint and parsley. I recommend making a mixture of these to sprinkle over your soup before serving. Also, serve this soup with lemon wedges.
As always, I recommend doing all of your chopping ahead of time. Set all of the ingredients out in bowls so that you are ready to add each item into your soup pot as directed. I also like to wash my lentils ahead of time so they are ready to go as well, but you can do that while the veggies are cooking.
1. In a large soup pot, heat the olive oil over medium. Add the onions and cook until they start to soften – about 5 minutes. Do not let them get brown or burned. You can turn the heat down a bit if they are cooking too fast.
2. Add the celery and carrots, and cook for about 8 minutes. The vegetables should be getting softer.
3. Stir in your garlic, turmeric, ginger and cumin and cook for a minute more.
4. Add the washed lentils and the water or stock. Bring to a boil, then turn down the heat and simmer until the lentils are cooked — about 20 minutes.
5. Season to taste with salt, and serve with chopped herb garnish and a squeeze of fresh lemon juice.
