Red Lentil Soup with Homemade Naan Bread

I took it easy last weekend, my neck has been bothering me so I kept the chopping and slicing down to a minimum. Pitchers get pitcher's elbow, I had knife shoulder and neck I think.  This is a pretty easy dish.  Just a chopped onion, a shallot, red lentils, and some brown rice.  I found an organic mix for the Naan at the local liquidation store.  It contained  whole grain spelt flour, yeast, and flax and caraway seeds for the Naan. Naan is pretty basic, flour, yeast, hot non diary milk, and a little warmth.  It came out pretty good.  I rolled out one and showed my husband how and he rolled the rest.  It's been pretty cold around here so they came out more like tortillas.  Yeast and bread rising doesn't work out too well for me on a cold day.  I made a cucumber dill sauce too.  It gave the meal a nice freshness.

Red Lentil Soup with Brown Rice

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 onion, chopped
3 shallots, chopped
1/2 teaspoon red-pepper flakes
6 cups low sodium vegetable stock (or water)
1 1/3 cup red lentils, rinsed
1/2 cup brown rice, rinsed
sea salt to taste
slivered almonds, toasted


In a big soup pot, over medium heat, combine the olive oil, onion, shallots, and red pepper flakes. Let them brown, and caramelize a bit, stirring occasionally.

Stir in the broth, bring to a boil, then stir in the lentils and rice. Simmer for about 30 minutes or until the rice is very tender, and not at all toothsome. By this time, the lentils will have collapsed into a thick slop of sorts. If you need to add more water/broth at any point do so a splash at a time, until the soup thins out to the point you prefer.

Unless you used a salty broth, you will likely need to salt generously, until the the soup no longer tastes flat. Serve each bowl topped with almonds, olives, and a slight drizzle of olive oil if you like.

Serves 4 - 6.
Prep time: 10 min - Cook time: 30 min

Cucumber Dill Sauce

1 cup veganaise
6 oz. vegan cream cheese or firm tofu
1 medium cucumber (equivalent to 2 cups) chopped
2 tsp fresh dill or ½ tsp dried dill
2 green onions, rough chopped
1 TB fresh lemon juice
dash cayenne

Place ingredients into blender and blend to desired consistency.  

Coconut Lentil Soup with Quinoa

I made this Coconut Red Lentil Soup from the 101 Cookbooks Journal. I like that site, it's pretty easy to find something quickly by ingredient. That's kind of how I like to look for recipes. What's in season and what do I already have in the kitchen to work with?

I did replace some of the ingredients in the recipe to what I had to work with. I used coconut oil instead of butter, brown and red lentils instead of peas. I didn't have any raisins, but I did have some dried cranberries, they worked out very well. I also combined some low sodium vegetable stock with the water. I think 7 cups of liquid was a little too much. I like a thicker lentil soup, almost like a stew. Next time I make this, I will cook the lentils in just enough water to cover. I wasn't happy with the consistency for awhile. I did steam some quinoa to serve with it and I just threw that in the pot of soup. It thickened up just right. It's more like a meal now. Served on collard greens, it is a whole meal.

The recipe did suggest roasting the curry in a frying pan before using. I have never done this. OH MY GOODNESS, what wonderful things that did for my kitchen. Between that aroma of the roasting curry and the freshly grated ginger my kitchen smelled like the little Indian restaurant in town. These lentils really had some nice flavors.