This weekend I devised a soup which has no potato, but still has a smooth texture and is plenty filling. Here 'tis:
olive oil
1 small onion
1 medium leek
2 sticks of celery
a large carrot
1 clove garlic
1tsp tumeric
4 good handfuls of red lentils
about 2 litres of stock. I used chicken stock from the freezer and supplemented that with a tbsp of vegetable stock powder.
salt and pepper
Slosh some oil into a large pan (I used my pressure cooker) and heat. Chop the veg and garlic into whichever size you fancy (I was having a small day yesterday), and sautee gently in the oil for about five minutes. Add a tsp of tumeric and stir. Chuck in the lentils and stir them around to coat with the oil, then add the stock, a good pinch of salt and some pepper.
At this point I brought the soup to a simmer and pressure cooked it on high for ten minutes. This meant that the lentils almost completely disintegrated, leaving a smooth sauce for the rest of the vegetables to sit in. If you don't have a pressure cooker* then could probably need to simmer the soup for at least 50 minutes to really cook down the lentils, which means you'll have to add extra water to prevent the pan from boiling dry.
The resultant soup is a cross between a thin dahl and a thick soup. The tumeric, which I seem to remember is supposed to be good for colds (I just like the taste) gives the whole soup a lovely golden yellow colour.
You could probably do something fancy with browned onions as a garnish, but I had a bit of toast. I can't give up carbs altogether, can I?!
*get one, they are bloody brilliant.
4 comments:
Hmmm that sounds good. I always soak my lentils the night before even though the pack says you don't need to...I find they don't cook if I don't do that. Hadn't even thought of putting them in my pressure cooker. At the moment the cooker is acting rather odd (probably as I took it apart to clean and like any shite mechanic, didn't put it back together again properly).
I also use the carrot and swede mix that sainsbury do. So lazy huh.
I'll try your version but not with chicken stock as veggies don't do chicken.
These are those little tiny red lentils, which have no coating, so they always seem to do OK without soaking. Anything else, I'd soak. I was wondering about using split Moong another time. Even yellower!
I put vegetable bouillon powder in as well. I often use only that in a soup mix.
I just exchanged my pressure cooker as the one we got as a wedding present didn't seem to work properly. It is now extra brilliant.
I completely second and third you about pressure cookers! We bought one in a fit of reckless extravagance the other day, and it's utterly, totally and utterly fab!! I made a divine Irish stew with scrag end last night in 30 minutes!!! Meltingly good!
Good call on the pressure cooker. It's so odd that I'll make loads of dhals and cook them in my p.c. but never thought of doing my soup. Last night I produced a simple lentil soup in half an hour which previously would have required soaking lentils all night, then 2 hours of boiling the lentils and vegetables.
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