red lentil carrot soup

Red Lentil Carrot Soup

It’s getting chilly outside, so that means it’s time to start making soup.  I spotted a bag of red lentils in Trader Joe’s, and just had to have them.  The nice thing about lentils is that they cook fairly quickly.  So, you can have delicious red lentil carrot soup in about an hour, without having to wait for beans to soak.

The lentils do need to be rinsed, but that only takes a minute.

Now that I had my lentils, it was time to find a recipe.  I looked at several red lentil carrot soup recipes, and didn’t like any of them.  Also, reading the reviews it sounded like the ones I did find needed some tweaking.  I ended up combining two different recipes, and adjusting them based on the comments.

While this isn’t one serving, I did cut the original recipes in half because I didn’t want 8 servings of soup (no room in the freezer).  This recipe makes 3-4 servings, depending on whether you have the soup as a main course or a side dish. Adding the rice will make it more filling.

The resulting red lentil carrot soup recipe has cumin for earthiness, a bit of red pepper flakes for heat, plus garam masala and ginger for warm spiciness.

Update: I came across still another recipe, which was for masoor dal (red lentils) as a side dish, and decided that with a bit of tweaking, it would make a wonderful, flavorful soup.  It was, and it was even better than my original recipe. So, I’ve now ditched the curry, and added ginger for warm spiciness and turmeric for color.




More Lentil Soup Recipes

moroccan chicken soupMoroccan Chicken and Lentil Soup

Believe it or not, this is Jewish food (no bagels in sight).  It’s usually made with lamb, but I used chicken, then flavored it with sharp/sweet ginger and turmeric.

 

lentil bean sausage soupLentil Bean Sausage Soup

This lentil soup has both beans and sausage. A hearty meal all by itself.  Perfect for chilly weather.

 

mulligatawny soupMulligatawny Soup Recipe

East meets west in this fusion soup.  Britain added meat and the Tamils brought the heat.

Note this is usually made with red lentils, but rice works too.

ham and lentil soupEasy Ham and Lentil Soup for One Person

Comforting soup in  just a single pot.  All you have to do is chop some veggies, add the ham, and let it simmer while the smell of delicious soup wafts through your home.