In the past, I often integrated lentil soup into my college meal prep. In the Arab world, they have a lentil-based dish called Harira which originated from Morocco and is traditionally eaten as a starter or a snack. Although this Moroccan style soup is eaten excessively throughout Ramadan, it is popular all year round. I love the texture and taste the red lentils lend to this recipe and how the lime zest blends in with the spices.
Although Harira is more of a starter, my version is definitely enough to fill you up for dinner. To keep the refined carbs from tainting the healthiness of this dish, serve the soup with some hard boiled eggs, or even sweeten it up by sprinkling on some chopped dates or figs. Did I mention that it is also very easy to cook!?
This recipe serves four and is:
Dairy free & vegan
Ingredients:
- Red split lentils, 300 g
- Chickpeas, 400 g
- Sweet potato, x1 (large)
- Yellow pepper, x1 (large)
- Tomatoes, x2 (large)
- Spring onion, x1
- All purpose flour, x3 tblspns
- Veg stock cubes, x2
- Fresh basil, x2 tblspns
- Onion, x1 (medium)
- Garlic cloves, x3
- Turmeric, 1 tblspn
- Sweet paprika, x1 tblspn
- Garlic purée, x1 tblspn
- Ginger purée, x1 tblspn
- Oregano, x1 tblspn
Method:
- Place a saucepan over medium heat. Drizzle on some olive oil.
- Add the chopped onion and garlic to the pan and stir until both are softened. Add the yellow pepper (after chopping), followed by the turmeric, paprika, garlic and ginger purées. Stir well.
- Dissolve the veg stocks into a cup of hot water and pour into the saucepan. After peeling and dicing the sweet potato, add it to the saucepan. Pour in more water if needed, until the liquid is slightly above the level of the contents. Allow the mixture to boil through for approx. 30 mins or until a fork can easily pierce through the sweet potato.
- In the meantime, place the lentils into a sieve and run some water over them. Do the same with the chickpeas, making sure that all of the chickpea water is washed off the chickpeas.
- Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius, slice the tomatoes, drizzle them with some olive oil and a sprinkle of oregano and place them into the oven for approx. 15 mins (keeping an eye on them).
- Add the basil and spring onion to the contents of the saucepan and mix well. Add the flour and blend everything using a hand blender (or whatever blender works for you). Add the chickpeas and lentils to the now thickish solution, mix well and add any additional water needed to have the liquid just slightly covering the chickpeas and lentils.
- Cook through for approx. 25 mins or until the lentils have completely softened.
- Garnish the soup with some basil and oregano, and the baked tomato.
The Food Anatomist 