Red Lentil Soup with Lemon
Ever since I had my first bowl of lentil soup at Jerusalem Garden in Ann Arbor, I've been wanting to make it myself. After a lot of trial and error (producing still very edible soups, it's a forgiving recipe), I've come to something that, while not exactly the same as the Jerusalem Garden version, I'm quite happy with none the less.
20 minutes of preparation, 2 hours cooking
- 1 medium onion
- 1 quart of water
- 10 oz of red lentils (They look orange when raw and turn yellow when cooked. Go figure.)
- 1 bouillon tablet
- 1 lemon
- 1.5 teaspoons of cumin
- 1 teaspoon of turmeric
- 1 teaspoon of paprika
- 1 tablespoon of olive oil
- fresh cilantro
- salt
- Rinse the lentils well, until the water runs clear.
- Chop the onion in small pieces and cook it in the bottom of a large pot with the olive oil and a bit of salt.
- When the onion has browned a bit, add the water, lentils, and spices.
- Let the soup simmer for about an hour, then dissolve the bouillon tablet in a bit of boiling water and add it to the soup.
- Let the soup simmer some more, maybe about an hour, until the lentils break down and the soup gets a creamy texture.
- Squeeze the lemon juice into the soup.
- Taste the soup and adjust the level of salt and lemon juice to your tastes.
- Serve and garnish with the chopped cilantro.