If you’re looking for a delicious balanced meal for tonight, look no further! This delicious hearty soup is super filling and high in fiber to keep you full and prevent post-meal blood sugar spikes! It’s also high in potassium for healthy cardiovascular and kidney health. If you have been told to limit potassium, you might need to skip this one. Not sure if you need to watch your potassium? Contact me for a free consultation!
Before I dive into the other benefits of lentils, let me just start out by getting real with you…..it’s been 6 weeks since we’ve been in quarantine and I’m really starting to feel the effects of social isolation! Walks around the block and video chats with other humans are just not cutting it anymore! Am I right!? My husband Luke is an introvert so he has no problem staying home all day (he’s basically in introvert heaven!). I, on the other hand can’t sit still and need to keep myself busy most of the day...ADHD problems! Luckily for him, I love cooking! I’ve been trying new recipes every week...sometimes I have the ingredients and sometimes I have to wing it. This recipe was adapted from the Food Network but I made a few substitutions, and I’m so glad I did because it came out perfect! Luke says it’s the best soup I’ve ever made! ;) It’s very similar to an Indian dahl.
If you don’t normally have lentils on hand, I highly suggest you add them to your shopping list! Split red lentils are a great staple to have in your kitchen since they’re super easy to make and one of the most nutritious plant-based proteins! You can use them in everything from salads, pasta dishes in place of ground meat, to soups like this one. They don’t require any soaking beforehand unlike dried beans and red & yellow lentils cook in about 30 minutes. Since they do cook so quickly, it’s important not to overcook them or they turn to mush! I definitely learned that the hard way! :) They have a nice sweet, nutty flavor compared to other varieties of lentils (brown, green, black), which taste more peppery or earthy. Yellow lentils would be the best substitution for this recipe. Although you don’t need to soak lentils, you do want to rinse and sort them before cooking to check for any tiny stones that may have gotten in there.
Nutrition benefits of lentils:
Lentils have a whopping 24g protein per cup! That’s more than you’d find in a 3 ounce serving of chicken! (about the size of a deck of cards) Who says a plant-based diet is low in protein!? Lentils are also a great source of iron, folate, potassium, fiber, manganese. Just 1/2 cup of cooked lentils provides 15% of your daily iron needs and the most folate of all plant-based protein! They’re also naturally gluten-free!
Who’s excited to get all the benefits of this lentil soup!?
RECIPE
Yield: 4 servings
Time: 45 minutes
Ingredients:
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 teaspoon ground cumin
¼ teaspoon kosher salt, more to taste
¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
Pinch of ground chile powder or cayenne, more to taste
1 quart vegetable broth
1 14.5 oz. can diced tomatoes (or 1 tablespoon tomato paste + chopped fresh tomatoes)
1 cup split red lentils (dry/uncooked) - can sub yellow lentils
1 large carrot, peeled and diced
2 cups chopped kale, deveined
Juice of 1/2 lemon, more to taste
Optional: 3 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro (the recipe called for this but I didn’t have it but it sounds good!)
Preparation:
Step 1:
In a large pot, heat 3 tablespoons of oil over high heat until hot and shimmering. Add onion and garlic, and sauté until golden, about 4 minutes.
Step 2:
Stir in diced tomatoes, cumin, salt, black pepper and chili powder or cayenne, and bring to boil - cook for 2 minutes longer.
Step 3:
Add broth, lentils and carrot. Bring to a simmer, then partially cover pot and turn heat to medium-low. Simmer until lentils are soft, about 30 minutes. Add kale during the last 5 minutes of cooking. Taste and add salt if necessary. Soup should be somewhat chunky.
Optional: To make soup thicker, use an immersion or regular blender or a food processor to purée half of the soup then add it back to the pot before adding kale (step 4).
Step 4:
Stir in kale and cook for 5 more minutes until soft. Then stir in lemon juice (and optional cilantro). Serve soup drizzled with olive oil and dusted lightly with chili powder if desired.
I hope you enjoy it as much as we did! Let me know in the comments below if you tried it and if you made any delicious substitutions!
xo - Nicole