Hearty Red Lentil Soup -

Hearty Red Lentil Soup

Red lentil soup is my favourite soup. Not only is the soup simple to make and extremely delicious, but lentils have a high protein level so it's a get way to get your protein in, especially for vegetarians and vegans. You've gotta give it a try!

Prep Time5

Cook Time30

Total Time35

Servings: 6 servings

Ingredients

95 g chopped white onion or 1 onion
166 g chopped carrots or 2 carrots
276 g red lentils
133 g chopped new/baby potatoes or 4 new/baby potatoes
8 g chopped parsley
2 tsp salt
½ tsp black pepper
½ tsp cumin
8 cups boiling water or 1892ml
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp sun-dried tomato paste

Instructions

Chop the onion, parsley, carrot and potatoes.
Place the lentils in a mixing bowl and fill up with lukewarm water. Mix the lentils around a little and drain the lentils with a sieve. Repeat this rinsing method until the water in the bowl becomes clear.
Pour the drained and washed lentils into a pot. Pour boiling water into the pot. Make sure that the water comes up around 5 cm higher than the lentils in the pot.
Put the pot on medium heat. Mix continuously to make sure the lentils do not stick to the bottom of the pot. If any white foam or froth builds up at the top of the water remove this with a spoon and dispose.
Add the rest of the boiling water and add in the chopped potatoes, parsley, onion and carrot. Continue for 20 minutes, or until lentils and the vegetables are thoroughly cooked and soft.
Using a hand blender, blend the contents of the pot until smooth.
In a small saucepan, combine the olive oil and tomato paste and fry up until paste darkens slightly, or for 10 minutes. Mix continuously making sure the paste does not stick to the bottom of the saucepan.
Add the cooked tomato paste mix from the saucepan into the pot. Also add the salt, black pepper and cumin into the pot.Turn down the heat to a low setting and let the soup simmer some more and mix until seasoning has mixed evenly throughout. Enjoy!