16 januari 2010

Lentil soup

As a kid I didn't particularly like lentils. I guess my father didn't like them either and that's why we never had them. My experiences as a kid are limited to my cousins house. My aunt made lentil soup once in a while. I remember that it was made out of brown lentils and that we had to add vinegar to the soup when we wanted to eat it. The soup was very thick and I didn't care for it much.

As a grown up I avoided lentils because of the culinary experiences of my childhood ...until... My first encounter was a few years ago at the Filmfestival in Rotterdam. I was hungry and had only a little time. The little restaurant at the festival was out of any other food then lentil soup. So I had some and I LOVED it. After that I had some lentil soup in Turkish restaurants and tonight I made some myself. Here my recipe which is a fusion between Turkish and Indian.

Ingredients


* 1 or 2 tablespoons olive oil
* 1 onion, diced
* 2 cloves garlic, minced
* 1 carrot, diced
* 1 tin of tomato paste
* 1/2 cup dry red lentils
* 3 cups vegetable stock
* 1 ts minced cilantro
* ground coriander seed
* 2 ts sour cream of yogurt
* half a lemon

Procedure


Heat the olive oil in a large pan over medium heat. Once oil is hot, add the onion and carrots. Cook for a few minutes, until the vegetables have started to soften, then add the tomato paste and the garlic.

Add the lentils and stock to the pot. Simmer over low-medium heat for 20-30 minutes, until lentils are softened. Then add the sour cream/yogurt, cilantro and coriander seed.

Freshly squeezed lemon juice is a nice addition, preferably immediately before serving.

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