I've never purd it, but then I also never make it the same way twice, and so I don't use a set recipe. Occasionally I will add a bit of curry powder and some Indian spices for an Indian flavor, and sometimes I make it Mediterranean style or a blend of the two. I probably make it more often than any other kind of soup because it is so quick and easy. If making Indian style, I add a bit of ginger and coriander, and increase the amount of garlic.

Here are some ingredients I frequently add:
potatoes (but not always)
celery (almost always)
onion (always)
garlic (always)
thyme
oregano
canned tomatoes (often Mexican style with chilies)
red bell pepper
jalapeño
chicken stock

I almost never add meat, but if I do, it is usually Italian sausage, and then I adjust the seasonings for Italian and add crushed/ground fennel and possibly basil.

The potatoes are best if you do not purée them, and I like the celery to be a bit crunchy. Generally, I sauté the onion, garlic, and peppers in olive oil before adding them, although I've also added them raw. I buy lentils in bulk.

Lars

I'm kinda picky about lentil soup. I only like it if it has some kind of acidy ingredient in with it, like canned tomatoes or balsamic vinegar. I make it what I call "monastary style" which is a simple vegetable base, with oregano and maybe thyme. "Greek" style I also like, which for me means adding a dash of balsamic vinegar and maybe chopped spinach. Then I do indian style, which has a curried flavor. I don't like the more european style which has a ham or sausage flavor. Doesn't mean it isn't good, just not to my taste. But in my mind, lentils have an earthy taste that is complimented by bitter greens, tomatoes or wine vinegar.

Oh yes we love lentil soup, or stewed lentils!
I just made some today, and at the moment because of a diet, I can't put sausage in it, so it was vegetarian, but it was still delicious.

I normally make it according to the following recipe but we also love it as a puree (usually the next day) with toasted garlic croutons on top.
And it is customary here to add a dash of vinegar just before serving. Here's the recipe from my file:

***************************************************

350 grams (1 1/2 cups) of small dark lentils
100 grams (3.5 oz) red stewing chorizo sausage - lightly pricked over with tines of a fork
50 grams (1.7 oz) salted tocino pork fat - cut into large diced pieces
1 TBSP flour
2 carrots diced fine
2 medium leeks, using only white stems sliced finely in rounds
1 lg clove garlic (this was optional but I wouldn't leave it out) - pass through garlic press
2 cups beef broth (I used 2 Knorr cubes)
1 bay leaf
fresh rosemary - small sprig
olive oil - about 1/4 cup
2 cups extra water to add after 1st hour

1. Soak lentils the night before in water to cover, unless using fast-cooking lentils. Here the shops sell both types.

2. Next day drain and rinse lentils, put aside.

3. Heat olive oil in heavy cooking pot. When sizzling, add carrots, garlic and leeks. Lightly brown while stirring.

4. Add 1 TBSP flour and keep stirring for about a minute.

5. Add lentils, beef broth, whole chorizo, tocino, laurel and rosemary

6. Put on lid and simmer very gently for 1 1/2 - 2 hours. Check after 1st hour and add up to 2 more cups water as needed.

7. Adjust seasoning and serve.

*************************************

And if there's any left over.......make it into:

Lentil Purée.

4 cups of lentil soup
1 1/2 cups of chicken broth (using Knorr cube and water)
2 lg cloves of garlic crushed and browned in 1/4 cup oil in small frypan
2 slices brown bread broken in small pieces and fried in the garlicky oil until brown

I started out using my hand cranked food mill and when I realized it wasn't going to do the job I put it all into my food processor, processing the above until smooth and then heated it gently.

Diced some more pieces of brown bread and toasted them in the frying pan with oil and garlic salt for the croutons.

*****************************************************

Today I used fast cooking lentils which needed 40 minutes cooking according to the package so I put them into a pot of about 2 liters of water, added chopped celery, 4 cloves of garlic mashed, 2 carrots chopped, 1 medium onion, and halfway through the 40 minutes cooking, added 2 potatoes cut into 8ths, a handful of chopped cabbage, a few flat green beans, a piece of yellow squash, a chicken stock cube, a fresh bay leaf,salt and pepper. It was good!

SharonCb

Red lentils are tasty and cook more quickly than the regular kind of lentils (there are actually many different types of lentils in a wide variety of colors and sizes). I like this recipe for red lentil soup with lemon from the NY Times.

Easy easy soup and one of my favorites.

About 4 quarts of water per pound of lentils. Some smoked ham and some onion.

That is it! Lots of stuff can be added if you like. A handful of fresh spinach is a winner. A couple carrots sometimes. A couple hot peppers can be good.

I've been doing "soup" this year. Each pot has been different and made with what I have that sounds good. I've lost about 20lbs and had lots of good eating. Most of my soups I make fairly thin to keep the calorie count down.

Want a fancy lentil soup? Smoke a chicken on the grill. Tear it apart and reserve the meat. Boil the skin and bones in a sauce pan for awhile. Once the flavor and gelatin is cooked out dispose of the skin and bones. Stir in curry paste paste to taste... for me that is about a tablespoon per quart with extra cumin and cayenne pepper for heat. A can of coconut milk. Some shredded coconut. Some mushrooms. Add back as much chicken meat as you like... I'm careful to pick out any fat and grisle. The lentils I nuke in the microwave... a couple cups of water to a pound of lentils and nuke for 10 minutes add another cup or two of water and nuke for another 10. Spoon chicken and broth over a bowl of lentils. Smokey, sweet, and hot.

{{gwi:1569789}}

A gal pal at work wanted to make lentil soup after seeing me wolf down bowl after bowl this year. She had made bean soup before so I advised her to use her favorite bean soup recipe with lentils rather then beans.

: )
lyra

I love lentil soup, and have made it different ways. I don't have time right now to post any recipes, as I'm heading out of town and won't be back for a few days. When I get back I'll try to post the recipes I've used. Actually, I rarely use recipes exactly, but I use them as a starting point or a theme, and then change it according to what I have on hand, and what sounds good to me. Lentils are so easy to work with, and can be done fairly quickly, so they're one of my favorite legumes.

Sally

Thanks guys, I will try one of these recipes and see how it goes.
Bunnyman, congrats on the 20 lbs! Hope I manage to do the same eating more soup - maybe you should start a thread?

I'm not really the cook as most of you here (which is of course why I come here:) but I thought I'd post this suggestion from one guys website I ran across in case it intrigues someone, myself I'm not sure why it would be better tasting than other crust ingredients but hey what do I know?

"Lentils are still one of the cheapest, most satisfying ingredients available, and I still cook a lot of them. Ive become especially fond of the red ones (theyre also called pink lentils and orange lentils; their color is more orange than pink or red). They make an unbelievable crust: you just grind them in a spice grinder till you get a fine powder, sprinkle over anything youd like to get really crunchy, spray with olive oil, and bake or fry. Works great for baked tofu, meatloaf, fish, stuffed squash, chicken."

I like the Lebanese style lentil soup--bag of red lentils (2C) cooked a half hr or so in ~7C water with a chopped onion, then mix in a few Tbsp flour, 1/4C olive oil, cumin, salt, pepper, and lemon juice to taste, cook a bit longer.

It's very different from the meat-based lentil soups.

One of the few healthy non-salad things I make that my kid will eat.

Thanks for reminding me fori, I love cumin in most bean soups too, including lentil.

In India, legumes of all sorts are a very important part of the daily diet and they have been ingenious in devising different (and very tasty) ways of using them.

They are cooked as a side dish, a soup, combined with meats or vegetables in main dishes, ground into flour, formed into thin rounds that are then toasted or fried into the most lovely, crunchy and delicate wafers, made into chutneys, toasted with spices and ground to powder to sprinkle onto rice as a flavoring, cooked with rice to increase it's nutritional value, and gosh, I'm sure I've left some things out!

I love to make a thick dish of Indian Dal (lentils) to have with rice and other dishes for one meal and then use the leftover Dal the next day, thinned with water, stock or coconut milk and flavored with a variety of seasonings and vegetables as a starter soup with dinner or as breakfast with some more rice.

Indian cuisine makes use of many spices unfamiliar to us in America, but online sources have made it possible even for those living in areas where ethnic markets are rare or far distant to experiment.

As jxbrown wrote, red lentils (masoor dal in Indian markets) don't hold their shape when cooked, so they aren't appropriate for dishes like salads. On the other hand, they cook much more quickly, which is convenient when you decide you want a dish of lentils but don't have a lot of time.

Here is a very tasty recipe from Williams Sonoma's "Savoring India" that is neither too hot (for those unaccustomed to the more fiery Indian foods) nor too complicated. I make my own Garam Masala, but premade is fairly easy to find and is a versatile spice mix, easy to find uses for if you buy some.

Dilliwale Dal
(Delhi-style lentils)

1 1/2 c red lentils
1/2 t ground turmeric
4 c water
1 1/2 t salt, or to taste
1 tomato, finely chopped
3 T vegetable oil
1 t cumin seeds
1 yellow onion, finely chopped
4 cloves garlic, very thinly sliced or minced
1/2 t cayenne
1 t garam masala
1/4 c finely chopped fresh cilantro

Check lentils for stones and rinse well. Add the turmeric and water, bring to a boil, reduce heat to low and gently simmer until the lentils are tender, appx. 25 minutes. Add salt and tomato and cook until the tomato is soft, appx. 5 minutes. Reduce the heat to very low while you make the spice-infused flavoring.

Heat the oil over a medium-high heat. Add the cumin and saute until it turns very dark, about 30 seconds. Add the onion and garlic and cook, stirring until they are light golden, appx. 6 minutes. Stir in the cayenne pepper and garam masala and pour the entire contents of the pan over the lentils. Add the cilantro, mix well. Check and adjust salt and seasonings and serve.

If you don't care for cilantro, you can substitute a drizzle of lemon or lime juice. The lentils should be thick, but still a bit soupy, so if they dry out too quickly, just add a bit more water.

While I appreciate the help I'm wondering if Lentils are for me. I followed the NYT receipe and found out some things.
I don't think I like cumin. Or at least the way cumin smells. Ive heard and seen this spice mentioned often but not used it and without upsetting anyone I sort of find it smells offensive. So I used half the recommended amt of cumin and half coriander
But it still tastes more like dirt than just earthy.
Would I like a different color lentil and a more mediterrean or european recipe? Maybe. I will give it a try sometime.
Moving on to bean soup:)

Well, red lentils are less "earthy" than brown lentils, they are some of the mildest, so maybe you don't like lentils. OK to not like cumin, so hard to say what exactly it was that you didn't like, the lentils or the cumin. Also, some people do not like cilantro, but count me as a cilantro lover. You could sub oregano for cumin in that NYT recipe. But it has both tomato and lemon, both acids, which counteract the "earthy" taste of lentils, so I dunno. Everyone has their favorites and likes and dislikes. I try to love Indian spiced food, but the best I can manage is to think it's just OK, pretty good but not YUMMO! Depending on how much I didn't like the lentil soup of the first batch, I'd maybe try again. There are other quick cooking legumes you might like, green or yellow split peas. I find I like the yellow ones the best, but I am basically a legumiac, so not the best person to advise you. I eat lentil soup, lentils with rice, and add lentils to a baked spaghetti dish with wine which I really like. But there are some lentil recipes I do not like, so it might depend on the recipe for you. Or you might be just lentil-adverse.

WE had lentil soup too, but 've never met a bean I didn't like (except those great big limas, they're too dry), so naturally I love lentils.

Elery made tonight's soup, he braised a package of oxtails for a couple of hours, shredded off the meat into the broth, added onion, celery, carrot, garlic, salt, pepper and the lentils. Simmer until the lentils are tender, our pot simmered for over an hour.

I made some dark caraway rye bread to go with it, and it was a nice supper on a dark, rainy, windy and very cool September evening.

Michael/Lyra, congratulations on that 20 pounds. I should do the same thing, it's soup kind of weather here anyway.

Annie

I also love lentil soup! However, not with acidity. I like mine with barley and mushrooms and carrots. Or I find that leftover pork tenderloin is divine in any soup with mushrooms, so that has been a good addition in the past. Cumin is definitely an earthy flavor that has grown on me, and I love it now. But the barley/mushroom/meat combo with lentils would go nicely with steak type seasonings: smoke, pepper, bay, etc.

I like to combine lentils: the red and bagged brown lentils get very soft and lose their shape and add thickness, and I also like the big blue, striped ones (French?) that I get in bulk at Whole Foods. Those end up being al dente even after reheating, and I like the texture combination.

Sorry to be so late getting back with a recipe. I haven't had much time at the computer lately.

I understand what you mean about cumin. I love the flavor of the spice, but sometimes it smells like body odor to me. Go figure.

Here's a recipe I made the other day that DH liked, and he doesn't usually like lentil soup. I'm sure I changed it around some, but I don't remember what I did.

It's from Deborah Madison's Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone.

Hearty Lentil Soup

2 tablespoons olive oil
2 cups finely diced onion
3 large garlic cloves
Salt and freshly milled pepper
3 tablespoons tomato paste
1/3 cup finely diced celery
1/3 cup finely diced carrot
2 bay leaves
1/2 cup chopped parsley
1 1/2 cups French green or brown lentils, sorted and rinsed
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon sherry vinegar or red wine vinegar
Chopped celery leaves and parsley

Heat the oil in a soup pot over high heat. Add the onion and saute until it begins to color around the edges, 5 to 7 minutes. Meanwhile, mince or pound the garlic in a mortar with 1 teaspoon salt. Work the tomato paste into the onion, then add the garlic, celery, carrot, bay leaves, and parsley and cook for 3 minutes. Add the lentils, 2 quarts water, and 1/2 teaspoon salt and bring to a boil. Lower the heat and simmer, partially covered, until the lentils are tender, 25 to 35 minutes.

Stir in the mustard and vinegar. Taste and add more of either as needed. Check the salt, season with plenty of pepper, remove the bay leaves, and serve, garnished with the celery leaves and parsley. The longer the soup sits before serving, the better it will taste.

My note: I think I remember how I changed the recipe - I added mushrooms. I had some mushrooms that needed to be cooked, so when I was sauteing the onions, I added the mushrooms, too. I think I might have added some French sorrel in addition to the parsley. I love lentils and sorrel. I'd experiment and see what might be good to you. I wouldn't necessarily give up on lentil after just one try, unless it's clear to you that they were what you didn't like about the recipe and it wasn't just the cumin.

Sally

Oh, cumin reeks. Smells like armpits or feet. LOL! But I like the flavor. (If the smell of cumin puts you off, don't ever sniff asefetida! That REALLY stinks.)

I like to add a bit of white wine or sherry to lentil soup. Other than that instead of vinegar, my standard recipe is about the same as the one Sally posted. We usually garnish it with a dollap of Greek yogurt or a squeeze of lemon and some parsley.

I just want to thank all of the KTers who responded to this thread, as well as the OP. I have never eaten lentils. I always thought of it as more of an ethnic thing, and definitely not German (which I am). But DH and I are determined to lose weight (22 lbs. for me so far and counting). I am always on the lookout for things that are high fiber, low sugar, low fat. Lentils seem to fit this to a T, so I picked up some red lentils and green lentils yesterday. I made a small batch of the red and added a bit of salt and curry at the end. Yummy! I also found out that they are high in iron, so that's a plus.

And DH likes his snacks, so last night I made some lentil puree and tonight I am making lentil cookies (remember the garbanzo bean chocolate cake?). In addition to the lentil puree, the recipe calls for whole wheat pastry flour, dried fruit (I'll be using cranberries and apricots), and coconut, and he says he's willing to try, so I'll let you know how they turn out.