Spicy Lentil and Bean Soup

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time: 2 hours

Yields: Several Bowls

Description

I have been looking for more ways to serve beans and lentils that aren’t boring, since my non-meat eating son needs protein in his meals. And the fact that they are incredibly healthy for us is a huge bonus as well.
Soup is a great way to incorporate lentils and beans into your diet, especially since it is so satisfying in the winter. The flavors are also disguised and almost overpowered by the spices, which is not a bad thing if you aren’t a fan. It is OK to overpower the basic flavor of the beans/lentils in order to like them in a dish.
Sometimes a dish can be a great sauce/soup with a healthy protein disguised in it.
To see the step by step pictures that go with this, you can go here: Spicy Lentil & Bean Soup

Ingredients

• ½ red onion, chopped
• 4 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1 tsp fresh ginger, minced
• 4 cups of water
• 3 tbsp vegetable stock
• 1 cup of brown lentils
• 1 can of chickpeas
• 1 can of white kidney beans
• 1 can of diced tomatoes
• 2 tsp garam masala
• 5 cardamom pods
• ½ tsp black pepper
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1 tbsp olive oil

Directions

1. Dice up the onion, garlic and ginger. Get a large soup pot and put the tbsp of olive oil in. Heat it on medium and sauté the onions, garlic, ginger and ALL the spices, excepting the cardamom pods, together.
2. Don’t be afraid of the garam malasa, embrace using it.
3. Once everything is tender from being sauteed, mix the 3 tbsp vegetable stock into 4 cups of hot water. The stock in the containers like this do not take much to dissolve, thus why I use them instead of the cubes.
4. Pour the stock into the pot, deglazing the pan with it. Then add in the rest of the ingredients, the beans and lentils, after rinsing and draining the canned goods.
5. I did not soak the lentils, with all the spices this soup needs to simmer a couple of hours minimum which cooks the lentils perfectly.
6. You can also add the cardamom pods now. I don’t know if I have mentioned how much I love cardamom pods, they are easy to scoop out of stews and sauces when you are done and infuse such a fantastic smoky, fruity, Christmas spice flavor to the dish.
7. Did that make any sense to you? Because it did to me, but cardamom is such a hard flavor to describe.
8. Mix them all together and bring to a low boil, then turn your heat down on the burner and let it simmer for at least 2 hours. Stir it occasionally as with anything you cook on the stove.
9. Check your lentils for texture, and when you are happy with how they are, remove the cardamom pods, then remove ⅓ of the soup to puree.
10. OR do what I do, take your hand blender, stick it in the pot and blend one side of it.
11. By puréeing it you get this lovely thick base without any thickeners, a pure, lovely spice infused soup.
12. You don’t need anything else to go with thus, other than perhaps a delicious, crusty white piece of bread.