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Lentil Recipe #5

Lentil Soup

Lentil soup is an old favourite of mine. It's thick and warming and there are so many ways to vary the ingredients, you never need to get bored of it.

This version uses spices and lemon juice to pack it with flavour.

Plus the lentils are full of essential nutrients that can seem hard to come by in winter.

Delicious with home-made bread, such as the herby seed bread.

Ingredients

Serves 4

200g red lentils
1 medium onion
2 cloves garlic
1 litre vegetable stock
Juice & rind of 1 lemon
½ teaspoon ground coriander seeds
½ teaspoon ground cumin
½ teaspoon black peppercorns
2 tablespoons olive oil or vegetable oil

Method

Peel the onion and chop in half. Slice finely. Peel and crush the garlic.
Heat the oil in a large pan and add the onion and garlic. Sauté gently for 5 minutes, until softening.
Crush the peppercorns in a pestle and mortar (or grind coarsely in a pepper grinder).
Add the pepper, cumin and coriander to the pan and cook for a further 2 minutes.
Add the lentils, lemon juice & rind and vegetable stock. Cover and simmer gently for 25 minutes, until the lentils are soft. Stir regularly, to stop the soup from burning to the bottom of the pan. You might need to add more water, if it gets too thick.
Season with salt to taste.

Time From Cupboard-To-Table

About 40 minutes.

Notes & Variations on Lentil Soup

If you don't have dried coriander and cumin seeds, try adding 2-3 teaspoons curry paste, instead.

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Ratings & Reviews

Rating	Comments
9/10	I think this recipe is so delicious and easy to make, it made a lovely Halloween supper.
10/10	PERFECT! I boiled a large piece of Gammon in a pot first and then added all the ingredients, it was really lovely. I then chopped a little of the gammon up and put some in the soup the rest went in the fridge for sandwiches.
10/10	Easy - cooked itself while I took our pup out for a 20-min walk, and great for warming me up after being out in the rain. I added a tin of plum toms with their juice, which I squashed in the pan slightly before adding the stock - the resulting blobs of red added extra interest and a gave an extra dimension to the earthy lentil flavour.
10/10	LOVE IT =D
10/10	Quite possibly the best lentil soup in the world! Made four good portions and is only 3 weight watcher points per portion!
10/10	improves with age. Try it reheated after being left in the fridge over night. cheese is nice melted in it
10/10	Easy to make and lovely to eat. I also adapted the recipe by adding a tin of chopped tomatoes and leaving out the lemon. This was equally as good.
8/10	I added a diced potatoe for texture. went in with the cumin. also a deseeded chilli for umph.
9/10	try leaving out the lemon and put some aniseed in. fantastic...

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