North African spiced red lentil soup
Red lentils are super easy to cook and take less than 20 minutes to soften making them ideal for a quick soup recipe. This soup is both comforting and exotic. The recipe comes from The Complete Mediterranean Cookbook by Amercia’s Test Kitchen. Red lentils are high in fiber and protein and provide the body with folate, iron, zinc and magnesium.
*Contrary to the name of this dish, this soup is not spicy but rather fragrant. I would recommend doubling the spice for more flavor. If you would like it spicy, I would recommend adding some harissa seasoning. If you have time, you could replace the ground coriander and cumin with seeds. Dry roast the seeds in a pan until their aroma is released and then grind in a mortar and pestle. This will increase the flavors.
Ingredients
¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
1 large onion, chopped fine
¾ teaspoon ground coriander
½ teaspoon ground cumin
¼ teaspoon ground ginger
1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Pinch of cayenne pepper
Salt and pepper
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1 garlic clove
4 cups chicken or vegetable broth
2 cups water
10 ½ ounces of red lentils (1 ½ cups)
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 ½ teaspoons dried mint, crumbled
1 teaspoon paprika
¼ cup chopped paprika
Creating the Magic!
Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a large saucepan over medium heat until shimmering. Add onion and 1 teaspoon salt and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, about 5 minutes. Stir in coriander, cumin, ginger, cinnamon, ½ teaspoon pepper and cayenne and cook until fragrant, about 2 minutes. Stir in tomato paste and garlic and cook for 1 minute.
Stir in both, water, and lentils and bring it to a vigorous simmer. Cook, stirring occasionally, until lentils are soft and about half are broken down, about 15 minutes.
Whisk soup vigorously until broken down to coarse puree, about 30 seconds. Adjust consistency with extra hot broth as needed. Stir in lemon juice and season with salt and extra lemon juice to taste. Cover and keep warm.
Heat remaining 2 tablespoons oil in a small skillet over medium heat until shimmering. Off heat, stir in mint and paprika. Serve soup, drizzling individual portions with 1 teaspoon spiced oil and sprinkling with cilantro.