I wish I knew who to credit with this recipe, but it was torn from a journal and the original paper lost long ago. Anyway, it’s a basic soup, but I have yet to encounter someone who doesn’t enjoy it, so I usually make a double batch. Serve along with a crisp green salad and some homemade whole grain bread. It’s often better the next day, if you can get it to last that long.
1 medium onion, chopped
2 medium cloves garlic
4 cups vegetable broth or water
1 cup dried red lentils, picked over and rinsed
2 medium potatoes, peeled and cubed
1/2 tsp. oregano
1/4 tsp. salt (optional)
2-3 Tbsp. lemon juice (fresh is best, but I use bottled all the time)
pepper to taste
In a nonstick pan, sauté the onion over medium heat until browned. Use a tablespoon of water or so whenever it threatens to stick. (This way you avoid using fat.) Add garlic just until it’s fragrant. (About 30 seconds.)
Stir in broth, lentils, potatoes, oregano, and salt. Simmer, covered, for 45 minutes or until the lentils are soft. Stir in remaining ingredients.
Options:
You can cook in a pressure on the second ring for 12 minutes, and it’s even creamier in texture after natural depressurization.
Use soy sauce for flavoring rather than salt, and stir in only after cooked. It adds a little more depth.
My sister prefers her soup with brown rice, rather than potatoes. She simply adds the rice with the lentils and cooks for one hour.
Hope you enjoy it. If you do, or if you come up with another variation you’d like to share, I’m always interested!
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Thanks! Sounds yummy and I will have to try it!
I just ordered red lentils from Amazon so I can try to make soup. We are big rice fans so I think I want to try it with the brown rice. About how much brown rice does your sister put in?
Thanks!
Glinda, she figured about 3/4 cup dry brown rice for this batch size. You might need to thin out the final product, though, unless you like your soup very thick.
Hope you enjoy it!
Thank you! I will let you know how it turns out! 🙂
Just popped in to say hi, I am making your lentil soup for dinner! Anybody who hasn’t tried this yet is missing something really great! Hope you are doing well!
I’m so pleased you still enjoy this, because both Frank and I consider it our favorite soup ever. It’s healthy, too.
Life is good, but busy. Kids home for the summer, and all that. Hope you are well, G! Will try to connect with you more on Twitter.
This soup sounds delicious! I make a similar red lentil soup only instead of potato I add a couple of cups of finely chopped veg (red pepper, grated carrot, tomato) and for spices use garlic, ginger, chili and cumin. But what really makes it is the lemon juice. I’m going to try your version for a change. PS I enjoy your blog posts on WU
That sounds like a wonderful soup, Joan. I’ll have to experiment sometime. I’m a bit of a closet foodie and love to experiment.
Re the WU posts: thank you so much! Very kind of you. 🙂