I have been looking for more ways to serve beans and lentils that aren’t boring, since my non-meat eating son needs protein in his meals. And the fact that they are incredibly healthy for us is a huge bonus as well.
Soup is a great way to incorporate lentils and beans into your diet, especially since it is so satisfying in the winter. The flavors are also disguised and almost overpowered by the spices, which is not a bad thing if you aren’t a fan. It is OK to overpower the basic flavor of the beans/lentils in order to like them in a dish.
Sometimes a dish can be a great sauce/soup with a healthy protein disguised in it.
Embrace this line of thinking.
Otherwise you’ll simply go insane, ’round the bend or stark raving mad, if you have a family like mine.
My husband doesn’t like lentils unless their flavor is disguised, it’s not actually my kids, believe it or not, but that doesn’t stop me from hiding all sorts of protein goodies in everything I make.
He may be 35, but I still have to hide healthy things in his food.
It also is not really spicy for most palates, so don’t be afraid to give this one a try. It doesn’t have the “hot” that the word spicy is usually affiliated with but rather such a burst of flavor thanks to the assortment of spices.
My husband called this soup “epic”. I kinda liked that, but thought it would be rather ostentatious to call this “EPIC Spicy Lentil & Bean Soup.”.
It does have a nice ring to it though, I might have a change of heart later on.
I will be making this again, very soon!
Ingredients Needed:
1/2 red onion, chopped
4 cloves of garlic, minced
1 tsp fresh ginger, minced
4 cups of water
3 tbsp vegetable stock
1 cup of brown lentils
1 can of chickpeas
1 can of white kidney beans
1 can of diced tomatoes
2 tsp garam masala
5 cardamom pods
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 tsp cumin
1 tbsp olive oil
You can use equal amounts of dried beans in this recipe, adjust cooking times and instructions accordingly.
Dice up the onion, garlic and ginger. Get a large soup pot and put the tbsp of olive oil in. Heat it on medium and sautee the onions, garlic, ginger and ALL the spices, excepting the cardamom pods, together.
Don’t be afraid of the garam malasa, embrace using it. It is such an amazing spice to use, and this quote from Wikipedia sums up what it is.
Garam masala (“Hindi language” Hindi: गरम मसाला, garam (“hot”) and “Masala” (“mixture”) is a basic blend of ground spices common in Cuisine of India and other South Asian cuisines. It is used alone or with other seasonings. The word garam refers to spice intensity, not heat; garam masala is pungent, but not “hot” in the same way as a chili pepper.
Once everything is tender from being sauteed, mix the 3 tbsp vegetable stock into 4 cups of hot water. The stock in the containers like this do not take much to dissolve, thus why I use them instead of the cubes.
Pour the stock into the pot, deglazing the pan with it. Then add in the rest of the ingredients, the beans and lentils, after rinsing and draining the canned goods.
I did not soak the lentils, with all the spices this soup needs to simmer a couple of hours minimum which cooks the lentils perfectly.
You can also add the cardamom pods now. I don’t know if I have mentioned how much I love cardamom pods, they are easy to scoop out of stews and sauces when you are done and infuse such a fantastic smoky, fruity, Christmas spice flavor to the dish.
Did that make any sense to you? Because it did to me, but cardamom is such a hard flavor to describe.
Mix them all together and bring to a low boil, then turn your heat down on the burner and let it simmer for at least 2 hours. Stir it occasionally as with anything you cook on the stove.
Check your lentils for texture, and when you are happy with how they are, remove the cardamom pods, then remove 1/3 of the soup to puree.
OR do what I do, take your hand blender, stick it in the pot and blend one side of it.
This is what it looks like, I blend an approximate third -not all of that side is pureed- and then mix it in.
By pureeing it you get this lovely thick base without any thickeners, a pure, lovely spice infused soup.
You don’t need anything else to go with thus, other than perhaps a delicious, crusty white piece of bread.
- ½ red onion, chopped
- 4 cloves of garlic, minced
- 1 tsp fresh ginger, minced
- 4 cups of water
- 3 tbsp vegetable stock
- 1 cup of brown lentils
- 1 can of chickpeas
- 1 can of white kidney beans
- 1 can of diced tomatoes
- 2 tsp garam masala
- 5 cardamom pods
- ½ tsp black pepper
- 1 tsp cumin
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- Dice up the onion, garlic and ginger. Get a large soup pot and put the tbsp of olive oil in. Heat it on medium and sautee the onions, garlic, ginger and ALL the spices, excepting the cardamom pods, together.
- Once everything is tender from being sauteed, mix the 3 tbsp vegetable stock into 4 cups of hot water.
- Pour the stock into the pot, deglazing the pan with it. Then add in the rest of the ingredients, the beans and lentils, after rinsing and draining the canned goods.
- I did not soak the lentils, with all the spices this soup needs to simmer a couple of hours minimum which cooks the lentils perfectly.
- You can also add the cardamom pods now
- Mix them all together and bring to a low boil, then turn your heat down on the burner and let it simmer for at least 2 hours. Stir it occasionally as with anything you cook on the stove.
- Check your lentils for texture, and when you are happy with how they are, remove the cardamom pods, then remove ⅓ of the soup to puree.
- Return puree to the pot and serve.
thekitchenmagpie
thekitchenmagpie
thekitchenmagpie
thekitchenmagpie
thekitchenmagpie
thekitchenmagpie
Do you drain and rinse the beans &chickpeas?
Good catch! I missed that step, yes you do drain and rinse them. Thanks!
And Valerie, it is exotic tasting, but it's a mild curry dish. My son can eat curries by the bucket, so honestly he is NOT a good measurement! He eats jalapenos on top of nachos without blinking an eye. Must have been the jalapenos I ate non-stop while pregnant with him, I swear.
Hey where do you get cardamon pods? Also follow up to a different recipe where did you find dried grated lemon?
Cardamom pods would have been in the aisle at Superstore where they have all the huge yellow bags Indian spices, rice etc, I am almost positive. Grated lemon peel you can grate it yourself and let it dry out, doesn't take long at all and it's as easy as heck.
A fantastic tutorial. And hilarious - too! I also am working to use more legumes, lentils and on. But, for me. To get Vanja to eat them I'd have to get an elephant to sit on him and also tie him down. I killed myself laughing about how you work to hide nutrients in your hubby's food. It sounds SO familiar! Vanja loves to eat, but - boy, does he ever cramp my style! He is SO picky and likes such PLAIN food. I loved your shot of the soup half pureed and half whole. It does look delicious. I love soup, too. Is it super exotic? It looks like it might be, yet, if your son likes it.... (everything I make is an epic if you following the dishes!) :) valerie