Golden Red Lentil Soup 🥣 velvety 30-minute classic 🇱🇧

Description

Silky, sunshine-gold soup of red lentils with warm cumin, lemon, and a gentle garlic finish—comfort in a bowl. ✨

Hook
Bloom spices in oil, simmer gently, then blitz briefly for that restaurant-smooth body. 🔥

Ingredients

• 🫘 Red lentils, rinsed: 250 g (1¼ cups / 8.8 oz)
• 🧅 Yellow onion, diced: 150 g (1 large / 5.3 oz)
• 🥕 Carrot, diced: 120 g (1 medium / 4.2 oz)
• 🧄 Garlic, minced: 6 g (2 cloves / 0.2 oz)
• 🧴 Tomato paste: 15 g (1 tbsp / 0.5 oz)
• 🫒 Olive oil: 30 ml (2 tbsp / 1 fl oz)
• 🌶️ Ground cumin: 3 g (1 tsp / 0.11 oz)
• 🌕 Turmeric: 1 g (½ tsp / 0.04 oz)
• 🌶️ Sweet paprika or Aleppo pepper (optional): 1 g (½ tsp / 0.04 oz)
• 🧂 Fine salt: 7 g (1¼ tsp / 0.25 oz), to taste
• 💧 Hot water or light veg/chicken stock: 1.2 l (5 cups / 40 fl oz)
• 🍋 To serve: lemon wedges, parsley, black pepper

Preparation

1. 1️⃣ Sweat aromatics
2. In a 4–5 l (4–5 qt) pot, heat olive oil over medium until shimmering (~160–170°C / 320–338°F surface). Add onion + a pinch of salt; cook 6–8 min to soft and lightly golden. Stir in garlic 30 sec.
3. 2️⃣ Bloom & paste
4. Add cumin, turmeric, and paprika; stir 30–40 sec until fragrant. Push onions to the side, add tomato paste; cook 60 sec to darken slightly.
5. 3️⃣ Simmer
6. Add lentils and hot stock/water. Bring to a bare boil, then reduce to a gentle simmer (~95°C / 203°F); cover slightly ajar and cook 18–22 min until lentils are tender and starting to fall apart. Skim foam if needed. Season with salt.
7. 4️⃣ Blend & finish
8. Blend 10–20 sec with an immersion blender (leave a little texture), or fully smooth if you prefer. If too thick, add hot water 2–4 tbsp; if thin, simmer 3–5 min more. Pepper to taste; squeeze lemon at the table.
9. 5️⃣ Serve
10. Ladle into warm bowls; garnish with parsley and extra lemon.

Total Time

⏱️ Prep: 10 min

🍲 Cooking: 22 min

😌 Rest: 3 min

🕒 Total: 35 min

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