Spicy red lentil soup

It’s been raining a lot and a hearty soup is always welcome! For this recipe I was inspired by a traditional Scottish recipe which you can find here. I made it several times, with vatying combinations of the base ingredients, but always turned out good, I think the spice mix really does the trick… This is just one of the possible endless variations!

Ingredients:

125g red lentils

2 handfuls oat flakes

1/2 medium carrot

1/2 medium onion

1 garlic clove

1 small celery stalk

1 tsp paprika

1 tsp turmeric

a pinch of cinnamon

a pinch of cayenne pepper

1 tsp basil

1 bayleaf

1 l vegetable stock

oil

salt and pepper

Method

Soak the lentils for 1 hour prior to cooking. Chop the vegetables. In a large pot (better if earthenware) heat the oil, fry the vegetables and crushed garlic for 5 minutes. Add the spices (except for basil and bay leaf) and lentils, stir for a few minutes until the lentils are well covered with spices. Add the vegetable stock (I prepared using about 1 tsp of my homemade veggie stock prepared using Chicca’s recipe), bring to the boil and add oat flakes, basil and bay leaf. The oat flakes will add an extra touch of creaminess to this soup. Let simmer for 45 minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste, and remove the garlic and bay leaf before serving.

I served it accompanied by the delicous M-oil-free croutons, my bread was more than stale, but they turned out good nonetheless.

1. Tippitappi 7 May 2010 at 12:10

   

   mmmm! so warm and hot! I bet those croutons taste delicious in that soup thanks for sharing!

   
   
2. Lia 7 May 2010 at 12:11

   

   Thank you