Saturday, January 23, 2010

Spicy Red Lentil Soup

I made this a couple months ago and haven't written about it yet.  This recipe is thanks to the 400 Best Budget Recipes from ctheflute :).  I bought split red lentils last time I went to the farmers market and realized that either the recipes with split red lentils were not that good or I didn't like them.  But I had about 4 cups that I needed to use.  Then I found this recipe.  It wasn't the best lentil recipe ever, but it was the best split red lentil recipe I've found and it was cheap and used some ingredients I don't use very often (namely fenugreek and, well split red lentils)

Spicy Red Lentil Soup
1 large onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 fresh red chili, seeded and finely chopped*
1 carrot, grated
scant tsp ground fenugreek
2-3 tbsp olive or sunflower oil
1-2 tsp cumin seeds (I would probably recommend ground instead)
1-2 tsp coriander seeds (I used ground)
1 tsp sugar
1 tbsp tomato paste
1 generous cup red split lentils (this means 1 cup plus 2 Tbsp)
7 1/2 cups veggie stock (I'm pretty sure I cut this down to 3 cups veggie stock and 2 cups water)
Salt and pepper to taste

Chopped red onion for serving

  1. Heat oil in heavy pan and stir in onion, garlic, pepper, cumin and coriander seeds.  When onion begins to color, toss the carrot and cook 2-3 minutes.  Add the fenugreek, sugar and tomato paste. Stir in the lentils
  2. Pour in the stock, stir well and bring to the boil.  Lower the heat, partially cover the pan and simmer for 30-40 minutes until lentils have broken up.
  3. Serve straight from the pan or blend for a smooth texture.  Sprinkle with red onion.



*Since this will likely be a habenero, you should use gloves to seed and chop it

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