Easy Red Lentil Soup

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Close up of red lentil soup in a rustic pottery bowl

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This easy no blend lentil soup, is simple, warming and comforting. Red lentils are both delicious and quick cook making this soup fast to make. Easy to scale up to fill the freezer.

Servings:

Author: Helen Best-Shaw

Prep Time5

Cook Time25

Total Time30

Ingredients

1 tbsp olive oil
1 small onion - 1
2 celery stalks - 1
1 medium carrot - 1
1 tsp ground turmeric
1 tsp garam masala
½ tsp ground cumin
1 stock cube - vegetable or chicken
750 ml water
180 ml coconut milk - 2
150 g dried red lentils
salt and pepper - to taste

To Garnish / Optional

1 tbsp lemon juice - 3

Metric - USA Cups

Instructions

Prepare the vegetables - peel the onion and carrot, then dice along with the celery into small pieces about 1/4 inch / 0.5cm.
1 small onion, 2 celery stalks, 1 medium carrot
Sauté the vegetables - Heat the olive oil in a saucepan or casserole dish/Dutch oven. Add the chopped onion, carrot and celery. Sauté gently over a medium heat for a few minutes until they are soft and fragrant, but not starting to brown.
1 small onion, 2 celery stalks, 1 medium carrot, 1 tbsp olive oil
Add the spices - Add the spices and cook gently for a further a minute or so. You want to release the flavour, but not burn the spices.
1 tsp ground turmeric, ½ tsp ground cumin, 1 tsp garam masala
Cook the lentils - Add the lentils, stock, water and the coconut milk.
It is best to add less liquid than you think you need at this stage, as it is easy to correct a soup that is too thick rather than thicken one which is too thin.
Give it all a good stir, put the lid on and let the soup simmer gently for 20 minutes, or until the lentils are soft and mushy.
750 ml water, 180 ml coconut milk, 150 g dried red lentils
Adjust the texture - If you like your soup smoother, mash with a potato masher, or blend to the texture you want. You can add more stock or water to thin the soup if needed.
Season and serve - Season to taste, a squeeze of lemon juice acts as a flavour enhancer, lightening and brightening the dish.
salt and pepper, 1 tbsp lemon juice

Notes

Ingredients

Onion, carrot celery - to save time on all the chopping you can buy a bag of finely chopped frozen celery, onion and carrots. Look for soffritto, mirepoix, vegetable base mix or similar with the bags of frozen vegetables at the store. Simply pour into a hot pan and fry from frozen
Coconut Milk - A mini can is perfect here. You can use some of a larger can, powdered coconut milk, or part of a block of coconut cream. Leftover coconut milk freezes well.
Lemon - optional - in this dish lemon works as a flavour enhancer. It lifts, lightens, brightens and focusses all the favours.

Leftovers / Storage

Fridge – Once cool pack into containers, seal and keep in the fridge for up to 3 days

Freezer – Once cold, pack into containers, seal and freeze. Store for up to 6 months. don’t worry if the soup separates as it defrosts – give it a good stir as you reheat.

Reheating – Defrost in the fridge overnight, or on the kitchen worktop for a few hours. Reheat your soup in a pan on the stove top, or in a safe container in the microwave.

When reheating in the microwave I usually use a Pyrex jug as unlike a bowl you can lift it in and out one handed.

Variations

Vary the spicing to suit your taste. Cumin, coriander or curry powder are all good additions – but don’t go overboard.
You can substitute cooked canned or pouched lentils for dried ones, or use soaked green lentils or yellow split peas instead of the red lentils. Cooking time may be longer. If using cooked lentils add less liquid.
Swap the celery for leeks or fennel.

• Please note that the nutrition information provided below is approximate and meant as a guideline only.

• Unless stated otherwise cup conversions have been made with an online tool. For accuracy please check with your favoured conversion tool. We recommend buying inexpensive digital kitchen scales.