When I have no idea what to cook, and not much time either, a lentil soup is my go to. Either red or green, no matter what I have in my cupboard, some veggies and crispy croutons and I have a perfect lunch or dinner.
This is a very simple recipe, it’s dairy free and it doesn’t take that much time to prepare either. Also, to make it easier for myself, I usually buy a few more carrots or parsnip and cut them up and store them in my freezer for when I need to make a quick soup.
Let’s get into this, shall we?
Ingredients:
- 198g onion (for me this was one big onion)
- 270g red lentils
- 163g carrots (about 2-3 carrots)
- 200g asparagus ( I had some ends that I kept in the freezer for a soup, you may skip them, but I really liked the subtle flavour)
- 200g parsnip
- 430g homemade tomato juice
- 10ml olive oil
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1 tsp hot paprika
- 1 tsp coriander seeds
Method:
- Start by chopping everything up. To make the cooking process faster, I recommend chopping the carrots and parsnip as small as you can. I used my food processor for this.
- As my asparagus was frozen, I blanched it, so it became softer, and added that to the food processor before adding it in the pot. Why? Well, asparagus ends tend to be quite stringy, and they’d just ruin the texture and creaminess of the soup, because a hand blender would not be able to make it close to a paste.
- Now it’s time to get it all in the pot. Add the oil in the pot, at medium to low heat. Throw the onions on top and cook them until they get soft.
- Add the carrots and parsnip and cook them with the onions for a few minutes.
- Add the asparagus purée and the lentils and cover with water. I added 1320g of water.
- Add the tomato juice, the paprika and coriander seeds( I ground mine in a mortar). You can add the pepper now as well, but wait on the salt.
- Boil at low heat, stirring occasionally (you don’t want it to stick to the bottom) until the vegetables are soft. ~30 mins.
- When all the veggies are boiled and soft, and you are happy with the amount of liquid left in the pot, grab a hand blender and blend until your desired consistency.
- Add the salt, and maybe some pepper if you feel that it needs more.
Serve with some warm croutons. And now that I mentioned them, I will tell you briefly how I make mine:
- I cut some slices of bread in small squares (if you have sourdough bread it will be magic)
- Spread them on a baking tray and drizzle them with some olive oil.
- Sprinkle some oregano and basil, if you have any, you can grate some parmegiano as well.
- Heat up the oven at 200C and bake your croutons for 5 mins.
- Et voilà!
They go so well with the soup and make it a bit more special.
I hope you enjoy this recipe and also, for quick little videos and short recipes, you can follow me on Instagram at @betterthansalads_.
Better Than Salads 