01 September 2013

One Potato Lentil Soup (GF)

Not much to look at, but it tastes faaaaabulous.

A good friend is someone who makes your family lunch when she is fasting!  It was Ramadan when a friend of mine showed me this recipe.  She made us the most delicious veggie stir-fry and this lentil soup and then sat at the table, chatting with me, while I stuffed my face with her delicious food. 

I love lentil soup and all its different variations.  This soup is pretty straightforward.  It's basically red split lentils and veggies with a dash of spice, all pureed up.  The secret is adding one potato.  The potato makes the consistency thick and creamy.  You can make this lentil soup without the potato, but it just isn't the same.  That's why I call it "One Potato Lentil Soup!"

Veggies!  We really splurged on that fennel, eh?  ;D
So, the veggies -- whatever you have sitting around your kitchen will do.  I'd recommend carrot and onion at the very least, but there's a lot of room to get creative.  In my case, I had celery, carrots, a fennel bulb, and an onion.  Chop up the veggies and the potato, toss them and 1 or 2 garlic cloves into a pot of boiling water.  (I use my 3-litre pot, which makes about 2-1/2 litres or so of soup (about 10 cups), but you use whatever pot you fancy and adjust everything accordingly -- or not, this recipe is pretty forgiving.)  Add about half a teaspoon of Kabsa spice mix.  Don't worry, I know you probably don't have any Kabsa spice mix.  Kabsa spice mix is this fabulous Egyptian spice mix that smells kind of like the love child of Chinese 5-spice and garam masala.  So you can use Chinese 5-spice and a pinch of garam masala or whatever you have on hand. 

Anyway, once your veggies are starting to soften, add your red-split lentils.  Don't add too much, or else the texture of your soup can get a bit dry.  For a 3-litre pot of soup, I recommend using about a cup, or 200g.

Let the soup cook until the lentils are soft, then puree everything with a hand blender (or dump it into a food processor or blender, blend, and then return it to the pot), stir in some salt and black pepper, let everything sit for a few more minutes to let the salt and pepper mingle with the rest of the soup, give it a good stir, and then serve.

This soup is gluten-free and fat-free.  Depenging on how many veggies and what size potato you use for this recipe, the total calories for the whole pot is about 1000-1200, or 100-120 calories a cup. 

2 comments:

  1. Wow, what a great friend and what a delicious looking soup. Happy MoFoing!

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  2. What a clever idea, blending a potato with lentils! I will have to try this!

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