Grainy lentil soup

[LakeFlyPie]

Have just made this soup and the texture is a bit grainy which I recall has been an issue with lentil soup before. Any tips for a smooth soup please?

did you add a stock cube or salt before the lentils were cooked?
that usually leaves them partly hard/grainy.

Most likely the lentils were undercooked, they need to be properly mushy. I would cook it on low heat for another 20 min and then blend again and sieve.

Agree with PP to simmer it on a very low heat. I've give it an hour in a container with the lid on.

What kind of lentils were used? I tend to use split red lentils as they cook so quickly.

Agree, sounds like your lentils weren’t quite soft enough. put them back on a low heat.

Also, getting soup silky smooth in a blender takes far longer than you’d think. At least 2 or 3 minutes in the blender.

One of the disadvantages of using a blender is that they can pretty much deal with lentils in any state of done-ness

As a student, i used to push the lentils through a sieve to get the desired blended texture. Trust me, you make very sure the lentils are soft before you start with sieving.

Simmer for longer, I don’t even blend my lentil soup but never find it gritty

Cook until the lentils dissolve, so you can't see individual ones.
Timings are always approximate with pulses , older ones take longer to cook.

Thanks all. Split red lentils.
When I make dal they almost dissolve to a smooth purée but when I blend soup they seem to go gritty.
Will blast it in the pressure cooker next time and see if it makes any difference

In that case (for next time) maybe cook the lentils separately like you would for dal and then add in all the other soup ingredients.

As it happens, my recipe for Dahl and for lentil soup are pretty much identical except for the amount of water added.

In fact, I usually make Dahl and store it in the 'fridge and add water for soup butter for Dahl when heating it.