Red Lentil and Carrot Soup with Lemon
An easy to make red lentil and carrot soup with lemon (vegan, makes a great lunch)
Servings: 2
Ingredients
- 2 cups of organic red split lentils
- 1 medium-sized carrot sliced
- 1 red or brown onion chopped
- 1-2 tbsp organic unrefined coconut oil (enough to gently fry an onion or extra virgin rapeseed oil)
- 3 cloves of garlic
- 500 ml vegetable stock or organic vegetable stock cube
- 1/2 tsp turmeric powder
- 1/2 tsp red paprika
- 1/4 tsp ground cumin seeds
- lemon juice according to taste
Instructions
- Chop the onion and garlic and keep them separate.
- Cut the carrot in thin slices and then cut these in half or quarters.
- Add the coconut oil (or rapeseed oil) to a saucepan and heat it up.
- Gently fry the chopped onion on medium heat for a couple of minutes, until soft.
- Add chopped garlic and cook it very briefly. Add some water if it's sticking to the pan.
- Wash red split lentils and add them to the saucepan. At the same time add the chopped carrot.
- Add the vegetable stock (or water and vegetable stock cube).
- Finally, add all the spices: turmeric, sweet red paprika and ground cumin.
- Leave it to cook for about 20 minutes.
- In the end, if the soup looks too thick, add more water. If you want to thicken it, use a spoon of cornflour mixed with a little water.
- Serve the soup with some lemon juice. This is an essential ingredient! It makes soup tastes amazing and it helps iron from lentils to absorb better into the body. You can also have this red lentil and carrot soup with a piece of a brown toast if you like.
Notes
I vary this red lentil and carrot soup by adding other vegetables sometimes. In the picture above you can see red peppers in it. I've also tried adding mushrooms before which is ok (but not my favourite) and I have also tried with celery which is not too bad. You can experiment by adding other vegetables if you like and see if it improves the soup. You may even add some potatoes.
