Quick Red Lentil Soup

This is a great recipe, one that we coming back to time and time again. Lunch, dinner, winter, autumn, this is a soup for any occasion.

What lends us to use this so often:

1. It’s simple
2. It’s quick
3. It’s extremely tasty

There aren’t many ingredients in this recipe and for us, most of them are pantry staples that we would always have, even at a pinch.

When I make this I normally double it. Actually, I can’t think of a time that I have made it and not doubled it. So literally just double the ingredients. The only one to keep an eye on is the chilli, doubling that could be a bit much for some, especially if you’re lazy and leave the seeds in as I often do.

This recipe calls for long red chillis. These are generally not as hot as say a small punchy birds eye chilli.

They add a beautiful visual aspect to this dish not just a small kick, the lentils, carrots and celery do lose some of their colour in the cooking so this sparks it up a bit.

Don’t forget you can leave the chillis out as well, although they do provide a small background kick that should be subtle. If it’s not subtle you need to whoa back a bit on the quantity or type of chillis you are using. You could also use a 1/2 teaspoon of dried chill if you don’t have any fresh or 1/2 teaspoon of cayenne pepper.

Recipe

Ingredients

• 1 onion diced
• 1 long red chilli, seeds removed, halved and sliced finely
• 1 carrot chopped
• 1 celery stalk
• 1tsp ground cumin
• 1tsp ground coriander
• 1L (4 cups) vegetable stock
• 1 cup red lentils rinsed and drained
• Plant based yoghurt to serve (optional)

Method

1. Fry the onion in a pot for 1-2 minutes with a lid on, stir once or twice
2. Add chilli, celery and carrot and cook for 2-3 minutes with the lid on, stit 2-3 times
3. The celery will release some liquid and it will sweat a bit with the lid on so it shouldn’t stick
4. Add the cumin and coriander and cook, stirring for a further minute
5. Add the red lentils, vegetable stock, bring to a boil and then simmer for 10 minutes or until lentils are tender.

Serve in bowls with some gluten free pitas or toasted bread

To gourmet it up a bit, add things like a dolop of plant based yoghurt, a few pieces of finely sliced chilli or a sprig of coriander

Serves 2-3 or 4-6 when doubled

Refrigerate any remaining soup, keeps for 3-7 days.