nutritional information

Per SERVING:

  • Calories: 211
  • Protein: 12 g
  • Total Fat: 5 g
  • Saturated Fat: 0.5 g
  • Carbohydrates: 32 g
  • Cholesterol: 1 mg
  • Sodium: 378 mg
  • Fiber: 7 g
  • Sugar: 7 g
Gluten-Free

Eastern European Red Lentil Soup

Eastern European Red Lentil Soup

Serves 8

30 minutes or fewer

Red lentils are common in Turkish, Indian, and Eastern European dishes and cook in half the time of green or brown lentils. They can be found in Indian and Middle Eastern grocery stores or alongside other dried beans in natural-foods supermarkets. You can also flavor this soup with curry powder, dried thyme, or paprika in place of the ground cumin.
  • 2 Tbs. olive oil
  • 1 large red onion, finely chopped (2 cups)
  • 3 cloves garlic, minced (1 Tbs.)
  • 1½ cups red lentils
  • 2 Tbs. ground cumin
  • 1 15-oz. can chopped tomatoes with liquid
  • 1 Tbs. honey
  • 3 bay leaves
  • 1 Tbs. red wine vinegar
  • ½ cup plain low-fat yogurt

1. Heat oil in large saucepan over medium heat. Add onion and garlic, and sauté 5 minutes, or until soft. Stir in red lentils and cumin, and cook 1 minute, or until cumin is fragrant and lentils are coated with oil. Stir in tomatoes with liquid, honey, bay leaves, and 7 cups water. Season with salt and pepper, and bring to a boil.

2. Cover pan, reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer 20 minutes, or until lentils are soft and falling apart, and soup is thick. Add a little water to thin soup, if necessary. Remove bay leaves, stir in vinegar, and serve with dollops of yogurt.

January 2008

you might also like

comments

I love lentils and Middle Eastern food, but I will not be making this again!!!! This was awful. I thought I did something wrong or forgot something, nope I didn't. Family asked that I not even try to change this, just get rid of it!

Debra - 2013-02-23 18:02:24

I combined it with another recipe to make a very yummy soup. I added red kidney beans to more protein (it goes nicely with the different shades of red in the soup). I omitted honey and vinegar and added a lot more spices (paprika, cayenne, oregano). I also used vegetable broth in the place of water. It was absolutely DELICIOUS!!

Mariola - 2013-02-16 17:39:26

Hi Sister, Here's the lentil soup recipe. Try to use red lentils rather than brown. I used the latter and the lentils were too thick and amost overwhelmed the texture. Red lentils are smaller, lighter and cook more quickly. Enjoy!!

Faye Snider - 2013-02-16 16:47:30

Clarification: I used 1/2 cup of CANNED, CRUSHED tomatoes in addition to the 15 oz. can of diced tomatoes. I didn't use fresh, pureed.

Tammy - 2011-02-25 23:22:39

I made it and jazzed it up a bit after reading vivian's comment: I think it came out quite tasty and flavorful with my revisions: I used vegetable broth instead of water; I used fire roasted, canned tomatoes with garlic (not necessary though); I added maybe an additional 1/2 cup of pureed tomatoes. The tomatoey, cuminey, flavor is quite nice with the lentils... a healthy, fairly simple recipe to make. try it!

Tammy - 2011-02-25 23:16:57

Dear Jaybyrd, You would use dry lentils.

Daxa - 2011-01-31 14:09:59

No, you don't have to soak lentils. Dry ones work just fine. The fact that you don't have to go through all that soaking is one of the reasons I love lentil! Besides the fact that they taste great and are high in protein.

Tom - 2011-01-30 08:23:34

Jaybyrd: Use dry lentils, not soaked overnight. Red lentils cook pretty quickly.

AD - 2011-01-28 09:03:38

I so wanted this recipe to be wonderful. It's quick, easy and made from things that I pretty much have on hand. I was really disappointed. This soup has no flavor. I keep thinking I left something out, but I've gone over the recipe and I followed it to a T. I will not be making this again. It was given 4 stars, but I don't see anywhere to rate this recipe

vivian - 2011-01-28 07:59:03

Use dry red lentils. Dried red lentils don't need soaked. They cook in about 20 minutes. They will cook in the liquid (water and canned tomatoes)with the rest of the ingredients in the soup. They are super easy to cook with. Just make sure you cook them on medium-low, as they will burn at the bottom of the pot on a higher temp. Good luck! :)

skyra - 2011-01-27 09:09:10

@Jaybyrd: Use dry lentils. No need to soak, they cook really quickly.

Amapola - 2011-01-27 08:05:22

To Jaybyrd: Lentils cook fairly quickly compared to other dried beans, so you don't need to soak them.

JKen - 2011-01-26 18:43:39

This has been a favorite in our household ever since I discovered it in Vegetarian Times Magazine.

CED - 2011-01-25 20:38:19

This might be a stupid question as I am not good with lentils but should I use dry lentils or from a can or do I soak dry lentils overnight before???

Jaybyrd - 2011-01-25 17:08:00

Delicious and hearty

Ead - 2010-02-17 18:11:57