Vegan / Vegetarian Lentil Soup

This great vegetarian lentil soup, as with most lentils, requires more cooking time than some other recipes on this site (about 90 minutes). The results are well worth it however, as all of the flavors of all of the ingredients are really absorbed into the soup during this time. If you like this soup, then consider making it in mass quantities next time, to avoid having to deal with constantly long cooking durations.

Ingredients

2 cups red lentils
1 medium onion
1 large carrot
3-4 cloves garlic
1 medium potato
1 stalk of celery
1/2 red pepper
1 tablespoon ground cumin
4 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 cup cilantro(optional)
Olive oil

Preparation

1. Boil lentils in pot at med-high setting (2:1 water to lentil ratio) until lentils are soft, stir often.

2. Chop potato, carrot, onion, pepper and celery. The potato and carrot can be left in slightly larger chunks, however everything else should be very fine. (Use food processor if desired.)Crush and chop garlic

3.Sprinkle olive oil into small frying pan. Simmer garlic at medium setting. Add ground cumin. Stir often until golden brown.

4. Add onions, pepper, and celery to frying mixture. After slight browning, add entire mixture to lentil pot. Add potato and carrot chunks to pot.

5. Bring boiling pot down to a simmer. (Low-Medium heat). Cover and cook for about 30 minutes, add more water if completely dried out. Add salt and pepper towards end of cooking time.

Serves about 6

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