LENTIL SOUP

The inspiration for this soup is from my friend. She is an Egyptian and she made this soup for us when we were at her place for dinner. The soup she served was very tasty and thick and it reminded me of the dhal I make. I asked her the ingredients and noted them down and here is my version of my friend’s lentil soup. I didn’t add potatoes to this soup like my friend did but I included some more vegetables and used the same lentil (masoor dhal) that she used. This soup tasted more or less like a rasam or paruppu rasam :)…but this was really tasty with garlic bread. The next day we had this soup with rice and that tasted so yummy. I wanted a thin soup, so I have used just ½ cup of lentils here and it can be increased according to personal preferences.

INGREDIENTS:

1. Any type of quick-cooking lentils, masoor dhal works perfect here, ½ cup.

2. Onion, medium size, 1.

3. Canned tomatoes, ½ cup.

4. Pureed tomatoes, ½ cup.

5. Mixed vegetables, chopped into small pieces, 1 cup.

6. Cumin seeds, 1 tablespoon.

7. Coriander seeds, 1 tablespoon.

8. Salt and pepper as per taste.

9. Mixture of dry herbs, 1 tablespoon.

10. Garlic, 2 cloves.

PREPARATION:

Grind the cumin seeds and coriander seeds and keep aside. Dice the onion finely and crush the garlic coarsely. Heat a pot with some oil. Add the diced onions when the oil turns hot and sauté for a few minutes until they turn brown. Add the canned tomatoes, tomato paste along with the veggies, crushed garlic, lentils, 4 cups of water, salt and pepper and mix everything well. Once the soup comes to a boil, reduce the flame and cook closed for 20-25 minutes until the lentils are cooked. Add the ground powders and dry herbs now and switch off the stove. Ladle hot soups into bowls and serve with any crusty bread of plain rice.