Lentil Soup

Considering the simplicity of the ingredients and actual cooking, I found this to be a worthwhile meal.  However, Alex did not seem too pleased since there is no meat in this dish.  Tough luck!  In the future if he wants meat when I'm making a veggie meal, he can take care of it himself!  Rating 6.75/10.

I got this recipe from Zoom Yummy

 

Ingredients

• 1 cup of red lentils (Bob's Red Mill brand makes them- in case you are having trouble finding them)
• 1 onion
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 1 (or more) large tomatoes
• 1 chili pepper
• 3.5 cups of water
• 1.5 tbsp olive oil
• .5 tsp mustard seeds
• 1 tsp garam masala
• 1/4 tsp turmeric
• 3/4 tsp cumin seeds (I accidentally used ground cumin- it was fine)
• salt to taste
• lemon juice to taste (I used the juice from about half a lemon)

Chop up the onion, tomato, garlic, and chili pepper (leave the chili seeds in if you want some heat).
 

Cook the lentils in a pot with the 3 1/2 cups of water.  This shouldn't take too long (~6 minutes).

Heat up the olive oil in a large pan.  Add in the mustard seeds- they are going to pop!  Once they have commenced the popping then add the onion, turmeric and cumin.  After a minute or two, add in the chopped garlic.  Continuously stir!  Then add in the chopped tomato and chopped chili pepper.

 Then pour the lentils and their water into the pan.  Add in garam masala and salt (I added 1 tsp of sea salt).  Stir and let simmer for a few minutes to allow the flavors to get married. I squeezed my lemon into the soup a few minutes before serving, and boy howdy was it the perfect addition! 

Alex and I ate this just by itself, but it would be great with a side of fresh veggies.  Alex thinks that curry chicken would be great with it, so I'll probably whip this soup up when I finally get around to making that.