Curried Tomato Lentil Soup

 

Prep time:                      15 minutes

Cooking time:            20 minutes

Yields:                                 4 people

 

Ingredients: 

1 yellow onion, diced
1 small carrot, diced

1 Yukon Gold potato, diced
1 teaspoon freshly grated ginger (1" piece)

1 tsp of fresh turmeric (1/4 tsp dried)
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon curry powder (berbere is preferable)
1/2 teaspoon fenugreek seeds

1/2 tsp cumin seeds

1/4 tsp cardamom seeds

1/4 tsp fresh ground black pepper
6 cups vegetable broth
¼ cup tomato paste

1 tsp hot pepper of you choice
8 oz red lentils
 

 

Directions: 

Over medium-high heat, sauté the onion until it is translucent. Reduce the heat to medium. Add the carrot, potato, ginger, garlic, sautéing them for about 1 minute. Grind the fenugreek, cumin, and cardamom. Add the ground spices along with the curry powder to the sauteed spices. Add the veggie broth, hot pepper, and tomato paste, stirring until the tomato paste is thoroughly combined with the broth. Bring the soup to a simmer. Add the lentils and stir. Once the soup comes back to a simmer, cover the pot and
reduce the heat to low. Cook the soup for 20 minutes. 

This is an Ethiopian soup, so its flavor is best created using berbere—an Ethiopian curry mix. The berbere mix has cayenne, cumin, cardamom, turmeric, fenugreek and see full list of ingredients here.

 

Notes: 

The key to this soup is timing when you add the ingredients. Lentils require time to cook, as do the carrots and potatoes.

The amount of heat is up to you. I have several different heat levels in my freezer stored in baggies from my hot sauce making summer fun. The seeds and skins are great just for this purpose, break off a piece and add extra heat to soups, stews, sauces or what ever. 

Penzey's is my preferred place to buy spices and they have a amazing Berbere. you can find them at www.penzeys.com