It´s mid-January, and it has occurred to me that I have not made or eaten as much soup as I have wanted to this winter!😂
I always look forward to eating soup again all summer! Suddenly, it´s the Spring and I feel like I didn´t make as much as I had planned to! So, when I went home for Christmas I got my Mum to show me this recipe for her delicious Red Lentil Soup, which I´m sharing that with you today.
This red lentil soup is extremely quick and easy to make; it´s healthy, filling, cheap and most importantly – tastes great. I particularly enjoy it with a piece of homemade Soda Bread, a slice of crusty Sourdough Bread or my Cheese and Chive Scones.
To make my Mum´s Red Lentil Soup, all you need is a few store cupboard ingredients: Red lentils, onion, a red pepper, tomato purée and ham stock cubes. That´s it! You´ll probably have all of those ingredients at hand already, so there is no excuse for not giving this yummy soup a try!
This recipe is great for students – quick, easy, cheap and also freezer-friendly! For more great student recipes, check out this post here.
If you are looking for more soup recipes, why not check out these recipes for Thick Vegetable Soup or my Carrot, Lentil and Ginger Soup?
Red Lentil Soup | Mum´s Recipe
Recipe
Ingredients (3-4 servings):
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 2 medium onions, finely chopped
- 1 red pepper, sliced and cut into cubes
- 2 tbsp tomato purée
- 200g red lentils
- 1 L boiling water
- 2 ham stock cubes (can be substituted with vegetable stock cubes for a vegetarian version)
- chilli flakes, to taste
- salt, pepper
Method:
- Start by putting the lentils in a sieve and rinsing them under cold water to remove some of the excess starch.
- Heat the oil in a pot and add in the onions. Turn the heat down to low and leave the onions to gently cook until soft and translucent, about 5-10 minutes.
- Stir in the tomato purée until all the onions have been coated and cook for about 2 minutes.
- Next, add in the red pepper and mix in with the onions.
- In the meantime, dissolve the two stock cubes in a litre of boiling water.
- Add the red lentils and the ham stock to the pot and stir. Leave the soup to simmer for 10-15 minutes.
- If you would like to purée the soup, do so now. I like to give it a few quick pulses with my stick blender to remove any large chunks of onion or pepper, but don´t purée it until completely smooth.
- Season the soup to taste with chilli flakes (if you like a little spice), salt and pepper.
- Serve hot, with some crusty bread and butter. The soup can also be easily reheated the next day or frozen.
