Soups

vegetable-lentil soup

More Soup for you!!

I couldn’t resist a wordplay on the iconic “NO SOUP FOR YOU” Seinfeld episode – the one about the soup nazi!!

Also hadn’t planned on posting yet another soup recipe so soon after the black bean one. But as it happened, something I hastily threw together using leftover ingredients from here was so delicious that I wanted to write it down before I forgot how I made it. This soup has the colors and flavors of fall written all over it…warm and very filling.

We love soups and I make it very often during winter. The soups I make are always broth based and heavy on vegetables. I almost never make cream or cheese based soups. How about you? Do you make soups often? What is your favorite kind?

As a side note, if you had actually planned on making the flatbreads – which I am absolutely sure you did :), and like me never walk out of the store with just one sweet potato, this is a great way to use up that other sweet potato without having it age gracefully in the pantry. The red lentils are also very easily available and I have seen it in almost every country I have visited. So wherever you are, no excuses for not having a pot of this simmering away on your stove!

Vegetable-Lentil Soup

Printable Recipe

1 cup red lentils (masoor dal), rinsed
1 sweet potato, grated,
3-4 cups chopped kale
1 celery stalk, chopped
1 small onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 cup cooked chickpeas (optional)
1 cup frozen or fresh corn
1 cup crushed tomato (fresh or I use the POMI brand in tetrapaks)
1/4 cup pumpkin seeds, roasted (I use the microwave)
1 tsp dried basil
1 tsp dried oregano
1/4 tsp crushed red pepper
1 cube vegetable stock (optional) – I like to use it but please make sure you get the organic one without preservatives
1/2 cup Orzo pasta (if you don’t have it on hand, you can use cooked brown rice)
juice of half a lemon
2-3 tbsp olive oil
salt and black pepper to taste

Heat the olive oil in a large pot and add the chopped onions, celery and garlic.

When the onions soften, add the basil, oregano, pumpkin seeds and crushed pepper and stir a couple of times.

Add the grated sweet potato and kale and stir for a few minutes. You will see it soften and change color.

Add the washed lentils and crushed tomato along with 8-10 cups of water (and vegetable stock cube if using) and bring to a boil. When the lentils are half done, add the corn, chickpeas and pasta/rice and cook on medium heat for about 10 minutes.

Use a hand blender to puree roughly or take some soup aside and blend in blender when cool, add back to soup.

Bring soup to a boil, add lemon juice and season with salt and pepper.
Yum