Lentil Soup
Andrew Stone mentioned making curried lentils and potatoes on a Twitter posting on New Year's Day 2009. Inspired by that we made this and it was good. This makes a very large pot. It will keep well for several days in the refrigerator and is great left over.
Servings 12
Ingredients
- 2 cups dried lentils (probably any kind will work, we have used regular brown lentils and also French green lentils)
- 2-1/2 quarts broth
- 3 tbsp olive oil
- 2 onions, diced
- 4 large cloves garlic, minced
- 5 large carrots, diced
- 4 stalks celery, diced
- 1 tsp. ground cumin (optional)
- 1 or 2 T. curry powder (optional)
- plain yoghurt (optional)
Instructions
- Put broth and dried lentils into a large pot over high to medium heat.
- Saute the onions and garlic in 1 tablespoon of the oil till golden.
- If adding the optional cumin and curry, stir cumin and curry into the onions and cook a minute or two more.
- Stir onion mixture into the lentils.
- Saute the carrots and celery in the rest of the oil till just tender. Set aside.
- After lentils come to a full boil, reduce to simmer and simmer till lentils are tender. This will take anywhere from 1/2 hour to several hours depending on the type of lentils and the altitude. (Brown lentils in mile-high Albuquerque take us about 1-1/2 hours.) You will likely need to add additional water to lentils while they are cooking.
- After lentils are tender, stir in the cooked carrots and celery. Bring back to a boil but don’t cook any more. (Don’t overcook the carrots, don’t want them to be mushy.)
- Season with salt and pepper to taste. (Don’t add additional salt if broth is salty.)
- Spoon into bowls and add a dollup of yoghurt to each bowl.
Variations (not yet tried):
- Add diced potatoes along with the carrots and celery (per Andrew).
- Add 2 T. sauteed black mustard seeds (per Andrew).
- Add sauteed cumin seeds (per Andrew).
- Use lots more olive oil, up to 1 cup (per Andrew).