John’s Spicy Lentil Soup

My good friend John made this soup for me a while back. We both wanted to eat something pretty healthy and warming, and something that wouldn’t take too long to cook. Don’t be afraid of the word ‘spicy;’ it has a only hint of chill, but loads of flavour.

John’s recipe is vegan, using vegetable broth, but I used chicken broth and added some chicken pieces that I had left over. Both versions are super tasty. I also used less olive oil; the original recipe says 3 tablespoons and I used about one.

The recipe is from the Food Network.

What you need:

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 4 cloves garlic, sliced lengthwise
• 1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds (or ground if that’s what you have)
• 1/2 cup green lentils
• 1/2 cup red lentils
• 1 small dried chili, crushed
• 2 carrots, diced
• 2 stalks celery, diced
• 2 bay leaves
• 6 cups vegetable or chicken stock
• leftover chicken, shredded or diced (optional)
• salt
• freshly cracked pepper
• 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar

What you do:

1. Drizzle the oil in a large pot and sauté the onion on medium heat until golden.
2. Add the garlic and cumin and cook for 2-3 more minutes, until the garlic is golden.
3. Add the stock, lentils, chili, carrots, celery, bay leaves and optional chicken to the pot and bring to a boil. Cover and simmer on low heat for 30 minutes.
4. Uncover and simmer for 10-15 minutes, until the lentils are tender. Add the vinegar, then add salt and pepper to taste.

Enjoy!

Thanks for the recipe John!