Curried Lentil Soup with Lemon

This weekend, my hubby and I went to visit his grandparents in South Jersey for a joint celebration of both our birthdays.  One of my favorite parts of visiting them is when Grandma inevitably pulls out a stack of food magazines and cookbooks and lets me take whatever ones I want.  On top of a bunch of Family Circles, I was very excited to snag two issues from Vegetarian Times, a great magazine that I have pilfered from her in the past.  On the way home I read both cover to cover, and one particular recipe caught my eye.  Ever since I had a lentil lasagna at my friend Ruth's house, I've been meaning to try and recreate that unique but delicious dish. I bought the lentils, but never put them to good use until tonight, when I made this vegan soup from the October 2009 VT issue.


Curried Red Lentil Soup with Lemon
What You'll Need
2 cups (1 bag) red lentils, sorted and rinsed
1 1/2 qts. vegetable stock
4 cups water
1 large onion, finely chopped
2 1/2 large or 3 medium carrots, peeled and finely chopped
4 stalks of celery, finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
1 heaping tbsp curry powder
1 heaping tsp cumin
2 tbsp lemon juice
Fresh cracked black pepper (to taste)

Simple ingredients make for big flavor!

Start out by preparing your mirepoix - ahem, your carrots, onions, and celery (I have just been itching to use that Top Chef-acquired term!). Get the veggies, including the garlic, cleaned and peeled.

Next, I sorted and rinsed my lentils, a tip that VT helpfully included below the main recipe. Very simply, I dumped the bag of lentils into a mixing bowl and covered them with a couple of inches of cold water. 

They tend to clump, so swirl them around with a fork to separate them, then let them settle.  Empty hulls and other debris may be present, which will float to the top of the water; skim this off with a large spoon or strainer, then completely drain the lentils. Bring the lentils, vegetable broth, and water to a slow boil in a large soup pot.  You may notice some brownish foam forming on the top - this is normal, just skim it away like you did earlier with the lentils (don't worry, they're worth the hassle!). Cover the pot, then lower the heat and slowly simmer for 5 min.

Lentils simmering, aka poopy brown water.

While the lentils were a-cookin', I chopped up my carrots, celery, and onion and minced my garlic. After the 5 minutes are up, add these to the pot and simmer, uncovered, for 20 minutes.  You might need to increase the heat a bit at this point since the pot is so much more full.  Stir the pot every so often to make sure that the lentils are behaving, and bask in the lovely veggie scents that will continually waft out of the pot and make you extremely hungry.

After the first 20 minutes of simmering, the vegetables will have begun to cook down nicely, and the lentils will have plumped up considerably.  At this point, I noticed that there was not enough liquid in my soup - the original recipe called for only 1 quart of vegetable stock, but luckily I had an extra 1/2 quart that I threw in last minute.  If you use the 1 1/2 quarts at the beginning, you shouldn't run into this problem, but you can always add some water if you do.

For the final step, add the curry, cumin,  and cilantro, then cook for another 10-15 minutes or until the lentils are soft.  Mine were ready much faster than the original recipe stated, so I recommend taste-testing them periodically until you find the right texture.  If you're not familiar with lentils, they should have a 'toothsome' or al dente consistency, but not be mushy.  After the soup is done, add the 2 tbsp of lemon juice to the pot and give it a final stir.

Hearty and delicious!

I topped my bowl of soup with a healthy dose of freshly cracked black pepper but no salt, because the vegetable broth provides plenty.  One large bowl of this was more than filling enough for my whole dinner, but it would also be good with some whole grain bread for dipping. This soup smelled amazing, and the scent does not lie - it is a bold mouthful of flavors that combine wonderfully in each mouthful.  I wish I could serve this dish to people who argue that vegan/vegetarian cooking is bland and boring, because in this case it most definitely was neither. The curry flavor is very mild, so this doesn't end up resembling a traditional curry, but it blends well with the cumin to liven up the blandness of the lentils.  My lentils were cooked perfectly (go me!) and were firm enough to make this resemble a stew as opposed to a brothy soup.  I'm definitely looking forward to reheating this during the week for lunch, since it makes a LOT of soup (easily 5-6 large servings).  One of the best parts of all is the total cost for this dish - about $5.50, assuming you have the spices on hand.   I have already asked for a subscription to Vegetarian Times for Christmas, so hopefully I will be trying out many more of their recipes in the New Year!