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This red lentil soup is so comforting on a chilly night.
Red Lentil Soup
Have you ever thought of using red lentils?
I have for a long time. The last time I went shopping and saw them, I decided to buy a bag even though I didn’t know exactly what I would do with them. A bit of impulse buying on my part.
Beans and legumes have always been a favorite of mine and I’ve made plenty of soups that use them over the years. However, even though I like regular lentil soup, there’s something about the color I find somewhat disagreeable. So it wasn’t that much of a brainstorm to substitute the red lentil for the grey one.
Vegetarian Or Vegan Too
The beauty of this red lentil soup is that it can easily be made “meatless” and totally vegan.
It should come as no surprise that even we omnivores enjoy vegan/vegetarian dishes. Personally, I enjoy all foods and have no intention of changing my diet, but I’ve noticed that a lot of peoples’ eating habits do change as we age. For instance, when I hit 50, I just didn’t want to eat meat every single day. It was surprising to learn that this was pretty common among similarly aged friends.
So, at times you don’t want to eat meat per se, the kielbasa can be left out. You might want to still use the chicken stock, but you don’t have to do that either. A good vegetable stock will work equally as well and with those substitutions, it becomes entirely vegan.
Whole Or Puree
This soup cooks pretty quickly so it can also be a quickie dinner–and there’s another choice too.
You can leave the lentils whole if you want a bit of chew factor involved and if you’re leaving out the kielbasa, this is probably a good choice. However, the soup may be pureed as well to make it smooth. I pureed it with my stick blender because it’s so easy to do. The choice, as they say, is up to you.
The Recipe
Red Lentil & Kielbasa Soup
Ingredients
- 1 large onion chopped
- 4 cloves garlic crushed
- 1 tbs oil
- 4 cups chicken stock
- 3 cups water
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 sprig thyme
- 1/4 tsp ground cumin
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp pepper
- 16 oz red lentils
- 16 oz chopped kielbasa
Instructions
- Heat oil in a dutch oven over medium-low heat. Add the onion and garlic. Saute for 5 minutes or until onion begins to get tender.
- Add the stock and remaining ingredients except the kielbasa. Simmer for approximately 1 hour or until lentils are tender. Remove thyme sprigs and bay leaves.
- Puree soup either in a conventional blender or with an immersion/stick blender.
- Add the kielbasa and heat through.
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