If you're looking for a soup that will fill you up, delight your senses, and cure your winter blues, look no further. This Curried Lentil Soup has everything you need. It's hearty. It's a little spicy. And it's a lot delicious. You probably even have most, if not all, of the ingredients on hand to make right now. That begs the question: What are you waiting for? Let's get to it.
Ingredients
This Curried Lentil Soup has minimal ingredients. Again, you probably have most on hand already. You can find the recipe measurements at the end of the post, so for now, I'll just run through the ingredients list. To start, you'll need an onion, a carrot and a celery stalk. You'll also need two cloves of garlic, a small piece of ginger, red chilli with the seeds removed, a bit of tomato paste, and two small potatoes.
For spices, you need cumin, coriander, and garam masala. You can buy garam masala in most grocery stores or you can make your own, which I'll share a recipe for at the end of the post. Finally, you'll need water and some salt and pepper. If you're interested in learning more about building flavour with spices, have a look at my guide to the basics of curry.
An optional ingredient that I didn't think about until now is a quarter cup of frozen peas. Those would make a great addition to the soup. Also, the lentils should be soaked in water for half an hour before you start cooking. Soaking will soften the lentils and shorten the overall cooking time.
Making The Curried Lentil Soup
Getting Started
To start the soup, heat a medium-sized (2 qt) pot over medium-high heat. Add in two tablespoons of olive oil along with the onion, carrot, and celery. Cook for five minutes or until the onions soften. Stir occasionally. Make sure to preheat your pan properly before adding the oil -- it makes a real difference in how the vegetables cook.
Flavouring the Soup
The next step is to start building the flavour of the soup. Add the ginger, garlic, and chilli and cook for one minute then add in the spices and cook for thirty more seconds. It's important that you stir while cooking these ingredients otherwise they may burn. Finally, add in the tomato paste and cook for two minutes. Again, stir the whole time and make sure to scrape the bottom of the pot.
You should follow the timing I've laid out because that will open up the ingredients and pull out their flavours. For example, cooking the tomato paste for two minutes will take away the harshness of the paste and even make it a little sweet. Cooking the spices for thirty seconds will cause them to start releasing their oils, giving the soup more flavour than it otherwise would have. This is one of those fundamental cooking techniques that applies to all kinds of dishes.
Make the Soup a Soup
After the tomato paste has had time to cook, add in the water, potatoes, salt, and pepper. Bring the pot to a boil and let it cook for five minutes. Do this to ensure that the potatoes are cooked at the same time as the lentils, which will be added next.
Adding The Lentils and Finishing The Soup
Once the potatoes have boiled for five minutes, drain the lentils and add them into the pot. Bring the pot back to a boil, turn the heat down to medium-low and simmer the soup for twenty minutes or until the lentils and vegetables are tender. Taste the soup and adjust the seasoning with salt and pepper as needed. If you were going to add peas to this, you should add them when you add the lentils.
Serving the Curried Lentil Soup
This curried lentil soup was delicious on its own, but I really wanted something to dip in it. So, I made roti or Indian flatbread using chickpea flour. If you enjoy soups like this one, you might also like my guide to understanding soup for more ideas on hearty bowls to get you through winter.
Recipe
Ingredients
- ½ cup green lentils
- 1 tablespoon minced ginger
- 1 tablespoon minced garlic
- 1 teaspoon minced chilli, seeds and ribs removed. Use ½ teaspoon if you don't like heat.
- 1 cup diced onion
- ½ cup diced carrot
- ½ cup diced celery
- 1 cup diced potatoes
- 2 teaspoon garam masala
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- ½ teaspoon coriander
- 2 tablespoon olive oil
- 2 tablespoon tomato paste
- 6 cups water
- 1 teaspoon Kosher salt
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
Instructions
- Soak the lentils in 2 cups of cold water for 30 minutes.
- While the lentils are soaking, prepare all of your other ingredients.
- Heat a 2 qt pot over medium-high heat.
- Add in the olive oil, onion, celery and carrots and cook, stirring now and again, for about 5 minutes or until the onions start to soften.
- Add in the ginger, garlic, and chilli, cook for one more minute, then add in the spices and cook, stirring, for 30 seconds.
- Put the tomato paste in the pot and cook for 2 minutes. Make sure to stir the tomato paste and scrape the pot's bottom to prevent it from burning.
- Add the water, salt, pepper and potatoes. Turn the heat up to high and bring the pot to a boil-Cook for 5 minutes.
- Drain the lentils and add them to the pot. Bring it back to a boil, turn the heat down to medium-low and simmer the soup for 20 minutes until the lentils and vegetables are tender.
The Wrap Up
This curried lentil soup is one of my favourite cold-weather meals -- it's warming, filling, and comes together with ingredients you likely already have in your pantry. I genuinely believe every home cook should have a good lentil soup in their rotation, and I hope this one earns a spot in yours.
Recipe
Ingredients
- 10 Cardamom Pods
- 3 teaspoon coriander seeds
- 3 teaspoon cumin seeds
- 1 cinnamon stick broken into pieces
- 1 teaspoon cloves
- 2 teaspoon black peppercorns
- ⅛ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 2 bay leaves
Instructions
- Put the cardamon, coriander, cumin, cinnamon, cloves, and peppercorns in a hot dry pan and toast for 4-5 minutes or until they become very arromatic
- Remove the spices from the pan and cool for a few minutes then put them in a spice grinder with the other ingredinets and grind to a powder.
- Store in an airtight container.
Anonymous says
Ben with your tomato paste do you make it or buy it. Because very little is used, do you freeze.
Chef Ben Kelly says
Good question. I buy it, but I buy it in meatal tubes with a screw-on lid. Once the paste is open, it will last about two weeks in the fridge. I can usually go through it in that amount of time. Otherwise, I do freeze it.
Anonymous says
Could I sub red lentils as that it what I have on hand. Enjoying your recipes. Thanks!
Anonymous says
Could I substitute red lentils?
Chef Ben Kelly says
Good question. Yes, you can
Chef Ben Kelly says
Absolutely ???? and thank you. I'm glad you like them