Simple Red lentil soup with vegetables

 Recipe for Red lentil Soup 

Red Lentil soup is comforting, simple, and easy to throw in the ingredients together. It’s my go-to meal when I want something hearty and healthy. I often pair lentil soup with crusty bread, toasting it with a drizzle of olive oil.

The combination of lemon juice and cilantro leaves gives the soup a punch of freshness.

Do I need to soak red lentils for soup?

Due to how they’re processed, de-husked, and split before packaging, they cook up quicker than any other variety of legumes. These red Lentils don't need to soak as beans do. These take 20 to 25 minutes to cook.

What Vegetables Should I Add to Soup?

Here are few things that goes well with Red lentils

Celery

Tomatoes

Potatoes

Green beans

Carrots 

Corn

Peas

Yellow onion and garlic

How to store leftover Red Lentil Soup?

Leftovers red lentil soup keep very well for about 2 to 3 days in the fridge. The soup may thicken up a bit over  the time. You can  thin it by adding  a bit of broth or water.

Stovetop method

How to cook Red Lentil Soup

Ingredients 

• 3 tbsp Olive oil
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 2 to 3 tomato puree 
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• Salt, to taste
• 1/2 tsp turmeric powder 
• ¼ tsp ground black pepper
• Chili  powder or paprika to taste 
• 1 cup Vegetable stock or plain water
• 2 cups water
• 1 cup Red lentils
• 1 carrot, peeled and diced
• 1 medium potato peeled and diced
• Juice of a lemon, more to taste
• Chopped fresh cilantro(coriander leaves)

Instructions 

1) In a large pot, heat  Olive oil. Add onion and garlic, and sauté until translucent.

2) Then throw in diced carrots and potatoes. Cook for a minute .

3) Stir in tomato puree, And add spice powders and salt and sauté for 2 minutes longer.

4) Add vegetable stock, water, lentils. Bring to a simmer, then partially cover pot and turn heat to medium-low. Simmer until lentils are soft, about 20 to 25  minutes. Taste and add salt  and water if necessary.

5) Using an immersion or regular blender or a food processor, purée one fourth  of the soup then add it back to pot. Soup should be somewhat chunky. Finally stir in lemon juice and cilantro and serve.

Servings - 4 

Total time - 40 minutes 

Instant Pot Method Red Lentil Soup 

Instructions

1) Press the "sauté" button on your Instant Pot and add the oil.

2) Give the oil a minute to heat up, then add the onions and garlic. Cook it stirring occasionally, until soft and translucent.

3) Add carrots and potatoes and sauté for another minute.

4) Then add tomato purée  and spice powder and salt and cook for another minute.

5) Add and stir in the red lentils,  water or vegetable stock according to your desired consistency .

6) Press the "cancel" button.

7) Place the lid on your Instant Pot and set the valve to the "sealing" position. Press the "pressure cook" or "manual" button and set the pressure to high. Set the soup to cook for 10 minutes.

8) When the soup has finished cooking, carefully move the valve to the "venting" position. Let the pressure release completely.

9) Remove the lid from the Instant Pot. Stir in the lemon juice, cilantro  leaves and pepper to taste.

Check my other Soup recipes here.