Egyptian Red Lentil Soup

"A yummy soup that uses my favorite lentils. Adapted from a Moosewood recipe. This is a good and healthy take-to-work lunch."
 
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photo by esteban photo by esteban
photo by esteban
photo by rebeccamm photo by rebeccamm
photo by Anonymous photo by Anonymous
photo by KitchenItchin photo by KitchenItchin
photo by rebeccamm photo by rebeccamm
Ready In:
1hr 23mins
Ingredients:
12
Serves:
6-8
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ingredients

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directions

  • Add the first 5 ingredients to a large pot; cover and bring to a boil.
  • Lower the heat and simmer 15-20 minutes or until the lentils and veggies are tender.
  • Take pot from stove burner and set aside.
  • In a small saucepan, add the oil; warm over low heat until the oil is hot but not smoking.
  • Add in the cumin, turmeric, and salt; cook and stir constantly for for 2-3 minutes or until the cumin has released its fragrance (be careful not to scorch the spices).
  • Set spice mixture aside for 1 minute to cool.
  • Stir spice mixture into the lentil mixture; add cilantro, stir to combine.
  • You can puree the soup, in batches, in a blender OR you can use an immersion blender and blend to desired texture (I like to leave it a little chunky).
  • Add in lemon juice; stir to combine.
  • Rewarm soup in soup pot; season if needed with salt/pepper.

Questions & Replies

  1. Hi, years ago I made a recipe for a spicy red lentil soup that was posted by you, I think. Were you also Nurse Di? If so, I can't find the recipe on here. Could you post it again, please? It was delicious! Thanks!
     
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Reviews

  1. This was excellent, I just got done with my second bowl and I'm full but I want to keep eating! I made a few changes, I sauteed the onion and garlic before adding the vegetable broth (i also chopped the garlic). I did what others said and added another teaspoon of Cumin. I added a little more potato which I mashed by hand inside the pot (no need to puree) The result was very thick soup just how I like it - adding a little more cilantro won't hurt either. This was my first experience with red lentils and I must say that I'm impressed - thanks for posting
     
  2. Great - don't skip toasting the spices - you could tell from the smell in my kitchen that this made all the difference.
     
  3. I made this recipe for the first time yesterday. Lovely, filling soup. Lucky enough to have a pressure cooker for the first five ingredients (added one large chopped carrot as well/ broth made with my own vegetable concentrate), cooked for 6 minutes in the pressure cooker but I did brown the onions and garlic first as suggested.<br/>All in all a wonderful result and liked by all the family. A favourite lentil/vegetarian recipe from now on!
     
  4. Excellent soup! I didn't have tumeric and added 2 1/2 teaspoons cumin instead. It could have used 3 teaspoons cumin and all of the tumeric as far as I was concerned. I kept the garlic cloves whole and added 1 can diced tomatoes and some carrots to get some vitamins A and C in there. Omitted the cilantro as it was expensive and not my BF's favorite herb either. Looking forward to eating the leftovers for lunch. Thanks a bunch for posting :)
     
  5. What a great warm you up from the inside out soup. I took the advise of the other reviewers and added 2 carrots and 2 celery stalks and it was as good as they promised it would be. The only thing I would say is you absolutely have to double this recipe!
     
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Tweaks

  1. Works as well with sweet potatoes in lieu of white.
     
  2. For got to add to my previous comment. My step mom uses chicken broth instead of water. A nice addition to the flavor of the soup
     
  3. We served the soup chunky style.
     
  4. Add a few tablespoons of tomato paste to get richer flavour and colour - beautiful
     
  5. I react to turmeric so I left it out and used cumin seeds rather than ground and added a bit of ginger. This gives it just a slightly Indian flare but still delicious!
     
    • Review photo by Kelly S.

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