Soup Season
I read this Red Lentil Soup recipe by Melissa Clark of The New York Times and knew I wanted to try it. Add to that a mysterious bag of red lentils in my cabinet (What recipe were they intended for? I can’t remember.) Hubby and I agreed–this one’s a keeper! The soup is delicious, healthy, vegetarian, vegan, kosher, parve…should I continue? With the right stock, it’s also gluten-free. After reading comments from others who’d tried it, I made a few alterations and also doubled the recipe. You can add a bit more or less of spices that you prefer. Lately, I’ve been adding a dash of Old Bay–an ode to my Maryland roots–to most of my dishes.
This is a lentil soup that defies expectations of what lentil soup can be. Based on a Turkish lentil soup, mercimek corbasi, it is light, spicy and a bold red color (no murky brown here): a revelatory dish that takes less than an hour to make. The cooking is painless. Sauté onion and garlic in oil, then stir in tomato paste, cumin and chile powder and cook a few minutes more to intensify flavor. Add broth, water, red lentils (which cook faster than their green or black counterparts) and diced carrot, and simmer for 30 minutes. Purée half the mixture and return it to the pot for a soup that strikes the balance between chunky and pleasingly smooth. A hit of lemon juice adds an up note that offsets the deep cumin and chile flavors.
Melissa Clark, The New York Times Cooking Section
Happy cooking, hon!
Red Lentil Soup
Ingredients:
- 3 Tablespoons olive oil, plus more for drizzling
- 1 large onion, chopped
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 Tablespoon tomato paste
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt, plus more to taste
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- ¼ teaspoon coriander
- ¼ teaspoon turmeric
- pinch of chili powder or ground cayenne, plus more to taste
- pinch of Old Bay
- 1 quart vegetable broth or chicken broth
- 1 14 oz can diced or stewed tomatoes
- 1 cup red lentils
- 3 large carrots, peeled and diced
- juice of ½ lemon, more to taste
- 3 Tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
Directions:
- In a large pot, heat 3 tablespoons oil over high until hot and shimmering. Add onion and garlic, and sauté until golden, about 4 minutes.
- Stir in tomato paste, cumin, salt, black pepper and chili powder, and sauté for 2 minutes longer.
- Add broth, 2 cups water, lentils and carrot. Bring to a simmer, then partly cover pot and turn heat to medium-low. Simmer until lentils are soft, about 30 minutes. Taste and add salt if necessary.
- Using an immersion or regular blender or a food processor, purée half the soup, then add it back to pot. The soup should be somewhat chunky. (Tip: I used the immersion blender right in the soup pot, blending the soup until it had a thick, somewhat chunky texture.)
- Reheat soup if necessary, then stir in lemon juice and cilantro. Serve soup drizzled with good olive oil and dusted lightly with chili powder, if desired.
Yield: 4 servings
Naomi M. Gruer 