Red Lentil Soup

Ingredients

Serves 6

1/2 pound onions – chopped
1/3 pound carrots – grated
1 tablespoon garlic – chopped
1 cup ginger – chopped
1 tablespoon safflower oil for sauteeing
1 2/3 cups red lentils – dry
5 cups strong vegetable stock
2 bay leaves, whole
1/4 cup nutritional yeast (optional)
1/4 pound red or green peppers – chopped
1 cans diced tomatoes with juice
2 tablespoons safflower oil
1 tablespoon cumin – ground
1 tablespoon coriander – ground
a pince of cayenne (or to taste)
1/4 cup lemon juice
1/2 cup fresh parsley – chopped
salt and pepper – to taste

Preparation

1. Chop onions and grate carrots.
2. Mince garlic and ginger.
3. Heat safflower oil in a soup pot and add onions, garlic and ginger. Sauté until onions are translucent and soft.
4. Sort and rinse the red lentils. Using a flame tamer or on low heat, add lentils, stock and bay leaves to the soup pot.
5. Add the grated carrots, chopped peppers and diced tomatoes with their juice, nutritional yeast, and parsley to the soup pot. Bring soup almost to a boil, reduce heat and simmer, covered , stirring frequently until lentils are tender.
6. While soup is cooking, heat safflower oil in a frying pan and sauté spices gently until fragrant. If spices burn, discard and start this step over with new spices. Remove from heat.
7. Thirty minutes before serving soup, remove bay leaves, and add sautéed spices, lemon juice, salt & pepper to taste.