Red Lentil Soup with Lemon Recipe
Even though our chilly days this time of year aren’t terribly chilly, it’s always nice to have an excuse to stay in and make a big pot of soup. This recipe for Red Lentil Soup with Lemon from one of my go-tos, 101 Cookbooks, is the perfect thing for this sort of occasion. With its comforting flavors (and brown rice accompaniment), it’s the kind of soup you’ll want to make again and again. XXJKE
- Red Lentil Soup with Lemon Recipe
Red Lentil Soup with Lemon Recipe
- Servings: 6 people
- Units:
- Course: Sides, Mains
Ingredients
- 2 cup 473 ml red lentils (14 oz/400 g) split, picked over and rinsed well
- 1 tbsp turmeric
- 4 tbsp butter unsalted
- salt fine grain sea salt
- 1 onion large, 2 cups diced
- 2 tsp cumin ground
- 1 1/2 tsp mustard seeds yellow
- 1 cup 237 ml cilantro chopped
- 3 lemon just the juice (or to taste)
- 1 large bunch spinach chopped leaves
- plenty brown rice cooked, to serve
- plenty yogurt plain, Greek, to serve
Put the lentils in a pot with 7 cups / 1.6 l water, the turmeric, 1 tablespoon of the butter, and 2 teaspoons salt. Bring to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer, covered, until the lentils are soft and falling apart - twenty minutes or so. Puree with a hand blender. Add more water until the soup is the consistency you like, then taste and add more salt if needed. Keep the soup warm/hot.
While the lentils are cooking, prepare the onion. In a skillet over low heat cook the onion in 2 tablespoons of the remaining butter along with the cumin and mustard seeds, stirring occasionally. When the onions have softened, roughly 10 or 15 minutes, add the cilantro and cook for a few seconds before removing from the heat. Add the onion mixture to the soup, then add the juice of the lemons, one lemon at a time - until the soup has a nice bit of tang. Also, add more salt to taste at this point if needed.
Just before serving, add the last of the butter to the skillet, when hot add the spinach and a good pinch of salt. Stir well, and cook just long enough for the spinach to collapse.
Serve by placing a scoop of rice in each bowl, then soup, spinach, and a dollop of yogurt.
