Red Lentil and Roasted Red Pepper Soup
This soup leans on two cheap, reliable things: red lentils, which cook in twenty minutes and thicken a pot on their own, and red peppers, which turn deeply sweet and faintly smoky once you char and peel them. Together with cumin and smoked paprika they make a soup that tastes long-cooked and rich for very little money or effort. Roasting the peppers is the one step worth not skipping, since it is where the smoke and sweetness come from, but it happens while the base cooks, so it costs no extra time. A squeeze of lemon and a pinch of toasted dried mint at the table do what salt would, and the mint in particular, a Levantine habit, lifts the whole bowl. It freezes well, so it is worth making a double batch.
Ingredients
- 1 cup Red lentils, rinsed
- 2 wholes Bell peppers, red
- 1 whole Yellow onions, diced
- 3 cloves Garlic, sliced
- 1 cup Canned crushed tomatoes, no-salt-added
- 1 tsp Cumin seed, toasted and ground
- 3/4 tsp Smoked paprika
- 1 tbsp no-salt vegetable bouillon
- 1 tsp Dried mint
- 1/4 tsp Red pepper flakes
- 1 tbsp Lemon juice
- 1/2 tsp Black peppercorns, freshly ground
Method
- Roast the whole peppers at 450 F (230 C), turning until the skins blister black all over, about 25 minutes, then seal them in a covered bowl for 10 minutes and slip off the skins and seeds. Roasting concentrates the peppers' sweetness and lays a thread of smoke under the whole soup that raw peppers cannot give.
- Meanwhile, sweat the onion and garlic in 0.25 cup (60 ml) water until soft, about 8 minutes, then stir in the cumin and smoked paprika for 30 seconds. Blooming the ground spices in the hot, nearly dry pan wakes their oils so they flavor the whole pot rather than just tinting it.
- Add the red lentils, the roasted peppers torn into pieces, the crushed tomatoes, the bouillon, and 4 cups (950 ml) water. Simmer 20 minutes, until the lentils have completely fallen apart. Red lentils dissolve into their own creamy body as they cook, so the soup thickens itself with no cream and no flour.
- Blend the soup smooth, then stir in the lemon juice and black pepper. A quick blend folds the peppers through and turns it silky, and the acid at the end lifts everything in place of salt.
- Toast the dried mint in a dry pan for a few seconds until fragrant, then crush it between your fingers over each bowl along with the red pepper flakes. Toasted dried mint is the classic Levantine finish, dark and fragrant, and it is what tells you the soup is done right.
Nutrition
Estimated per serving: 230 calories, 12 g protein, 8 g fiber, 160 mg sodium. Computed from USDA FoodData Central reference values for the main ingredients. This is an approximation, not a laboratory measurement. How these are computed.
Cost per serving is estimated from US national-average retail prices for cheap staple forms, using BLS dried-bean prices and USDA produce prices. Prices vary by store and season, so treat it as a guide, not a receipt. How this is computed.
