Red Lentil and Tomato Soup

So guys, guess what? I'm still around!! Can I get a woop, woop?! :)

This is a recipe inspired by the delicious soup my cousin, Vicky served me while I was staying with her in England... It requires very few, very cheap ingredients but with the lentils providing protein and the tomatoes providing their fantastic anti-cancer qualities it's an excellent soup to keep away the Winter (or the it-really-ought-to-be-spring-by-now?!) Blues...

Gorgeous, terracotta soup garnished with crumbled feta and a drizzle of olive oil!

If you use vegetable stock (and skip the feta I sprinkled on my serving!) this soup is easily vegan/vegetarian... but because I'm perfectly happy to have animal in my diet - I made my soup with powdered chicken stock!

The recipe I used is based on this one from About.com's Low Fat Cooking Section... Because I was in Sweden for only 6 months - I was unwilling to buy all the spices I might ordinarily have in my kitchen - so I chose ground cumin over ground coriander - but use what you've got! Cooking should be a fluid action...

This was quick, easy, hearty and delicious... and it lasted for AGES (you can decide whether that last point is a pro or a con...)... I really encourage you to try it!!



You'll need:

1 onion, finely diced
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 tsp ground cumin
Olive oil, for frying

400g can, chopped tomatoes
3/4-1 cup red lentils, washed (one day; I will remember to weight ingredients as well as measuring them!!)

5 cups (1.25L) vegetable or chicken stock

salt/pepper to taste

feta/olive oil/oregano to garnish (optional)

What to do:

First, fry off the onion, garlic and cumin in olive oil until fragrant and translucent.

Then tip in the tomatoes, and lentils and mix/fry for 5 minutes.

Pour in your stock and bring to a boil before reducing the heat and continuing to simmer for 25-30 minutes, or until the lentils have softened...

Season to taste.

At this point, you can either serve up straight away - or you can, as I did, attack your soup with a stick blender (aka a bizz-izz stick) or pour the soup in a standard blender and blend until smooth...

Garnish as per your desires and enjoy with bread if you want!