Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Lemony Lentil Soup

Where to start, where to start?
I have so many ideas to get this blog started. So here it goes, why not start with one of my favorites!

As you will come to see lentils are one of my favorite things to cook with. They are so versatile and extremely healthy!
In a search for a new fun lentil soup I came across this Lemony Lentil Soup with Cilantro on Epicurious.com, one of my favorite recipe websites.

Epicurious is great because you can type in ingredients that you have and want to use and search for recipes with those ingredients. It is even possible to refine your search to course or dietary restrictions.

Ok so back to the soup. As you will also come to see I almost never follow recipes, I use them as guidelines to make my own scrumptious recipes. This recipe in particular is pretty easy and super quick, 2 of my favorite attributes for a recipe!
It is great recipe as is and is great with the many variations I've tried.

The following is what I've done to make it my own, not to mention, way faster!
  • 1 medium onion, chopped
  • 2 garlic cloves, minced
  • 1 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • ground black pepper to taste
  • 1/2 teaspoon ginger (fresh chopped ginger is even better!)
  • 1 cup brown lentils, picked over and rinsed
  • 3 1/2 cups vegetable broth (or 1 teaspoon seasoned salt and 3 cups of water)
  • 3 cups water
  • 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
  • 1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro

Saute onion in heated oil in a 3-quart heavy saucepan over moderate heat, stirring occasionally, until beginning to brown, 4 to 5 minutes. Add garlic and saute an other 1-2 minutes. Add salt and cook, stirring frequently, 1 minute. Add lentils, pepper, ginger, broth, and water and bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer, covered, until lentils are very soft, about 30 minutes. Add lemon juice and cilantro.

Try adding coconut milk for a more Thai flavor!

7 comments:

  1. I got me a big jar o' lentils at home so I might try this.

    So as much as everyone bags on Rachel Ray- she does have some great advise. One thing I picked up from her is to peel fresh ginger and freeze it whole in a plastic bag. Then you grate what you need frozen, straight from the freezer. It grates super easy too! It keeps for a long time and you don't have to worry about tossing moldy or soggy ginger if you rarely use it. Miss you!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I made this for dinner the other night and it went down really well! I didn't have any fresh cilantro so left it out but I could taste how it would have added a special, yummy flair to it. Keep it up Elaina!

    ReplyDelete
  3. So on the ginger thing. . .try grating really fresh ginger and then squeezing it into a bowl. As long as it is really fresh you'll be amazed how much fresh ginger juice you get. Adding fresh ginger juice to recipes makes them even more yummy because you get the ginger flavor throughout the dish. Just a thought. . .

    ReplyDelete
  4. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  5. this soup was a big hit at my home! we used green instead of brown and didnt have cilantro and still tasted great!

    Thanks Elaina!!

    ReplyDelete
  6. How many people did this serve? Thanks!
    -Debbie

    ReplyDelete