Farm fresh ingredients!
Lentil Soup with Cumin, Cilantro and Chard
From the cookbook, “Vegetable Soups from Deborah Madison’s Kitchen”
And adapted to Lentil Soup with Carrots, Cumin, Cilantro, Spinach and Beet Greens by Sumi Sohn-Rigler
Ingredients:
1 ¼ cups lentils brown, green, red, black or a mixture), soaked for 1 hour or longer
(I used more lentils, prob about 2 cups, but I like my lentil soup thick, like a goulash)
2 large garlic cloves, pounded with 1 tsp salt
(I used 1 large green garlic bulb from the farm basket. Since I didn’t want to pound it, I just chopped it up and added it to the soup with the salt.)
Sea salt sand fresh ground pepper
2 bay leaves
4 parsley branches and 4 cilantro branches, tied together
(I didn’t have any parsley, so I just used a bundle of cilantro. Side note, I had a great time making the herb bundle! Not sure why, but it was very satisfying to do something so silly and elaborate, something like Julia Childs would tell you to do. It’s not really that hard to do either, just use a long piece of string so you can wrap up and loose bits.)
2 to 4 tbsp olive or sunflower seed oil
1 large onion, finely diced
1 tsp ground cumin
6 chard leaves, finely chopped (about 4 cups)
(I used the spinach and beet greens from the farm basket. I think you can use any leafy green (like kale, collards, spinach). It’s a great opportunity to use whatever you have in the fridge! Also, I didn’t finely chop my leaves, but left them mostly intact (cut the big ones in half). That’s just because I like to keep my veggies whole, feels like I taste them more. I also used a lot more than 4 cups, prob more like 6… Gotta get those greens in!!)
¼ to ½ cup finely chopped cilantro
Yogurt, about 1 tbsp per serving, or lemon juice to taste
I also added some chopped carrots, just because I wanted to use them, and figured it wouldn’t hurt the soup.
Directions:
- Drain the lentils. Put them in a soup pot with 5 cups water (7 if they haven’t been soaked), the garlic, 1 tsp salt, the bay leaves, and the parsley/cilantro bundle. Bring to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer, covered, until tender, about 25 minutes for the soaked lentils, 45 minutes if not soaked. Taste to be sure. Remove the bay leaves and herb bundle.
- Once the lentils are cooking, heat the oil in a medium skillet. Add the onion and cumin and cook over medium heat, stirring frequently, until it starts to brown, 15 to 20 minutes. Add to the simmering lentils.
- When you are ready to serve, simmer the chard in a little water until soft, 8 to 10 minutes. Add it with any juices to the soup along with the chopped cilantro. I don’t do this step. I just throw the greens into the soup. I usually like to follow recipes, but I just can’t convince myself that this would make enough difference to be worth another dirty dish… Taste for salt ad season with pepper. Serve with a spoonful of yogurt in each bowl. Or, if you’re not using yogurt, squeeze a little lemon juice into the soup before serving to bring up the acidity and brighten the flavor.
I have never had the soup with yogurt, but it sounds good, just don’t really have plain yogurt in the house. Usually just eat it with some fresh ground pepper and toast. Once we had it with tamales, and that was a great dinner. Yum!
It’s going through a huge transition after all.
