Simple tasty lentil soup please

[IckleBones]

Looking to make lentil soup this weekend but would rather trust some experienced home cookery over some online recipes site.

Anyone like to share their lentil or other home favourite recipes?

One onion, two carrots, half a potato - fry gently (in a bit of butter if you have it), then add stock and lots of red lentils and boil for around 25 minutes. It's out simple store cupboard soup. You can liquidise for a smoother soup but it's not essential. Came from a Prue Leith book years ago. Simply but lovely.

Onion, celery, carrot. Fried in olive oil. Rinse red lentils. Add chicken/veg stock squirt of tomato purée and lentils. Add salt t the end if it needs it. I read somewhere that salt can make the lentil tough if added at the beginning.

Fry one chopped onion and two sticks of celery
Add one chopped butternut squash
Add veg stock to cover all ingredients
Add one mug of red lentils
Simmer

Thank you I take it will be 500ml stock?

Yes and liquidise.
You can add extras to make it spicey or what ever but it's delicious plain

Think I will try all your different recipe styles

For my recipe you keep adding the stock till all the ingredients are covered, then add a couple of cups of stock more as it can get dry during simmering

I remember my aunt made home made lentil and I loved it, im not a fan of tinned soup, it can happily be ignored in my cupboards for years.

Coo,l think I will be ok making it now im not a terrible cook so hopefully will make it just fine.

Slowly cook lardons / bacon with a white onion till the onion is translucent
Add teaspoon of chilli powder, cumin, paprika and pinch of cinnamon
Add finely chopped stick of celery and a couple of cloves of garlic (and I add whatever veg I have in the fridge - I made this tonight and used up a red pepper and a red chilli that was only mild)
Couple of skinned / deseeded and chopped tomatoes
Tin of chopped tomatoes, tomato purée
Vegetable stock
Good couple of handfuls of red lentils
Seaon to taste

Bring to the boil for 10 minutes then reduce heat to a low simmer for 40 minutes. Can blend half or not as preferred

Including the simmer, it took 1hr from start to finish - I chopped all the vegetables in the food processor.

Chop an onion and a largish carrot and sweat them in butter. Garlic also works, if you have some.
If you're not vegetarian, you can add bacon or pancetta (obviously that makes it lentil and bacon, rather than just lentil.)
Check the fridge for any other veg which needs finishing up and work out if it's suitable (celery yes, brussel sprouts no, mushrooms questionable.) If so, chop them up, check them in.

Chuck in a load of lentils. Chuck in a load of paprika. Chuck in a load of stock (water and a stock cube also works, or just water if you've no stock or stock cubes.) Top up with water if necessary.

Set to simmer. Check from time to time that you don't need to add more water as the lentils soak up the liquid. You can stick it through the blender, but if you chopped all the veg small, you can get away without it.

If you have a plastic stick blender, then don't stick it in a pan of hot soup while it's still over the hob, because then you get a melted plastic stick blender...

I dont have a blender unfortunately will put that on my need to buy list.
Im not veggie but I can take or leave meat no problem so probably wo t bother with the bacon very often.

Ebearhig are you talking from experience with the melting blender?

I have melted a few things so will keep that in mind

Mines really easy, blend to make smooth if you want or just as it comes a bit more chunky.

Fry onion and garlic
Add 2 tins chopped tomato
Squirt of tomato concentrate.

In a seperate pan boil red lentils till they are cooked.

Combine lentils with tomato and add a good slosh of Worcester sauce

This is my stock cupboard staple

Ebearhig are you talking from experience with the melting blender?

The replacement was a bit more expensive, but is a metal stick blender.

It bent it out of shape, rather than melting into the soup as an extra (inedible) ingredient, but that may have only been because I noticed it wasn't really stopping when I got to the edge of the pan...

Tomato and lentil soup.

Chop and fry an onion, add red lentils and about 8 tomatoes roughly chopped, then add some tomatoes juice or passsatta, then add stock. Simmer for 30-40 mins, stir in s teaspoon of marmite. Whizz with hand held blender and serve with crusty bread and grated cheese.

It's a cranks recipe? Out of a really old cookbook, but it's filling and yummy and easy.

About a pint of tomato juice btw, and some stock.

Take off the heat before blending. I use a plastic blender and it's been fine but I take it off the heat first.

Big pan, packet of lentils, about 4 or 5 grated carrots, one large chopped onion, about 4 potatoes chopped and veg stock cubes (depends on how buck your pan is, mine takes 8) stick it all in the pan, fill it with water, bring it to the boil and simmer ti the lentils are cooked.

You need a really big pan though...if you're only after normal amounts of soup use a normal pan and half it.

I don't make soups where you need to fry things first, I'm lazy, lol.

Adding coconut milk, fresh coriander and a bit of curry powder is also nice... It's a change.

This is my very simple lentil soup,

Pan boiling water
2 ham stock cubes (I like knorr)
onion finely chopped
grated carrots
red lentils

stick it all in the pan in that order bring to boil, simmer and then when I remember about it a few hours later I have lovely tasty soup

If you add a pinch of bicarbonate of soda to the water you are cooking the lentils in, and cook them for longer at about 80 degrees rather than boiling them, the texture will be perfect. (buttery soft but retaining structure).

Mine goes like this

1 onion, chopped
2 large carrots, peeled & chopped
2 thick rashers smoked bacon, chopped
1 clove garlic
1 x 500g box passata
4oz red lentils
seasoning and herbs

• Heat a little oil in a large saucepan and cook the bacon until the fat runs
• Add the onion, garlic and carrots, turn down the heat and allow to 'sweat' for 10 minutes
• Add the passata then fill the empty box twice with water and add this to the pan with the lentils. Season with pepper and herbs only at this stage.
• Bring to the boil then cover and simmer for about 30 minutes or until everything is tender
• Taste, add salt, then blend with a hand/stick blender until smooth

For all these recipes are people cooking the lentils first or just adding them raw so to speak? The recipe I found online said to cook them separately first which seems faffy if they're getting cooked in the soup anyway.

For mine the red lentils are put in raw and I low simmer the soup for about 40 mins

It will depend on what kind of lentils you are using- I have only used split red lentils and there is no way you can precook those they would just fall apart. Other lentils might need precooking, but I think the little red ones are nicest in soup any way.

My recipe uses an onion a few carrots and 100g of lentils I add some garam masala, cumin, tumeric, garlic and chilli flakes so it turns out a bit like a runny Dahl.

Yum and full of fibre, low in fat and a good source of protein too.