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Perfect Red Lentil Soup

Posted on by biglittlebites

I grew up eating this perfect, delicious and healthy red lentil soup, and it’s now a staple in my home with my family. Lentils are rich in protein (equivalant to a steak!), folate, iron, magnesium, potassium and zinc. They’re such a great, nutritious substitute for meat, whether you’re doing a meatless Monday, or cooking vegan or vegetarian meals. This warm, cozy red lentil soup is perfect for lunch or dinner and especially easy to throw together when you’re short on time to get food on the table, because it takes minimal effort!

As with all of my recipes, I recommend aiming to choose organic ingredients whenever possible. I look for vegetable stock or broth made from real foods and free of flavoring, to get the cleanest ingredients into our bodies. When time allows, consider sprouting the lentils prior to using them, as this will ease digestion and enhance the nutrient profile of the soup.

I hope you enjoy this recipe, born from my Armenian heritage, as much as my family does!

How I Make it

What I love about this Perfect Red Lentil Soup, is that it’s flavorful yet super easy. On a busy school night, this takes 15 minutes to prep, 30 minutes to cook and maybe another 15 minutes to cool and puree! I will note, pureeing is not totally necessary, and more of a preference. The photo below, of the finished soup, is how it looks without pureeing. The texture is soft and airy, making the soup almost fluffy!

I begin by sautéing the minced onion in a little olive oil, until the onion begins to turn clear about five minutes later. Next, I add in the cumin, salt and pepper and give it all a good stir before mixing in the tomato paste. At this point, the soup won’t be soup at all -it will just be a clumpy mix of onions and seasoning! Toss in the quinoa and lentils and pour in the broth to make a more soupy mixture (below). Now you bring it to a boil, then turn it down to a simmer and cover, letting it cook undisturbed for 30 minutes. That’s basically it!

When you remove the lid… voila! You are left with this perfect lentil soup, which you can then puree if desired!

Perfect Meatless Meal

red lentil soup in a bowl with cilantro leaves on top
Print Recipe
5 from 1 vote

Perfect Red Lentil Soup

This red lentil soup is excellent for a plant-based, meatless meal, if you use vegetable stock. It's hearty, filling and full of flavor!
Prep Time15 mins
Cook Time45 mins
Course: Soup
Cuisine: Mediterranean
Keyword: lentil soup, red lentils, vegan, vegetarian, soup recipe, meatless, nondairy
Servings: 6

Equipment

  • Dutch oven pot
  • Immersion blender

Ingredients

  • 2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
  • 1 medium yellow onion, minced
  • 2 tsp salt
  • 1/4 tsp cracked pepper
  • 1 tbsp cumin
  • 3 tbsp tomato paste
  • 2 c red lentils
  • 3/4 c quinoa
  • 7 c vegetable or chicken stock
  • Optional: fresh cilantro, chopped
  • Optional: sprinkle of cayenne pepper

Instructions

  • Preheat a dutch oven over medium-low heat for 5 minutes.
  • Add olive oil and minced onion. Cook the onion, stirring every now and then, until they turn transparent.
  • Add salt, pepper, cumin and tomato paste to onions and stir to combine.
  • Add lentils, quinoa and stock to dutch oven with onion and spice mixture. Stir and raise temperature to high.
  • Once the soup is boiling, reduce the heat to low and cover with a lid. Allow to simmer for 30 minutes.
  • Using an immersion blender, puree the soup until smooth and creamy.
  • Add another 1-2 tablespoons of olive oil, to enhance flavor.

Stuffed Grapeleaves

Posted on by biglittlebites

When I was a little kid, we would pick up my great-grandmother once a week to take her grocery shopping. I have vivid memories of her ordering my mom to pull over randomly on the side of the road at least once every trip, because she spotted roadside grape leaves she just needed to pick ? My little Armenian great-grandmother, kept plastic grocery bags bunched up inside of her little purse, just for these happenstance sightings!

Now, here I am today, a mom of three, picking grape leaves in my neighborhood as Liz and I take the kids on a walk! Hey, they are organic, and they are local! Wild food! ? So… when nature gives you grape leaves, you make dolma, right? I didn’t invent this recipe, it’s centuries old! But try it, love it, and please never order that restaurant dolma again – it just doesn’t compare!

Ingredients: 

About 35 grape leaves (maybe one jar)

1 lb of grass-fed ground lamb, beef or mixture of the two

1 large onion, minced

1/4 -1/2 c uncooked brown rice

Handful of parsley, chopped

1/4 c tomato sauce

Salt & Pepper to taste

 

Directions:

If you picked your leaves fresh, you’ll need to first blanch them – plunge them into boiling water and then rinse under cold water. If you’re using grape leaves from a jar, they are in brine, so you’ll want to give them a good rinse. I usually just dump out the liquid while leaving the leaves in the jar, and then repeatedly refill the jar with water and strain it out about 3x.

Set up a rolling station with a colander/plate to hold your wet grape leaves flat, a small knife for trimming stems, a medium bowl for the meat mixture, a soup/stock pot to cook them in, and a clean plate or cutting board for rolling and a platter of some sort to put your rolls onto.

Make the meat mixture by combining all the ingredients (except for the leaves) in the medium bowl – mix well but don’t get too crazy kneading, or you’ll end up with tough meat.

Once you start rolling, as you go through your stack of leaves, whenever you find one with holes in it, or too small to roll with, use it to line the bottom of your pot (this prevents your dolmas from burning as they cook). Roll your dolmas as the photos above indicate, by folding over certain parts of the leaf at a time. Once you’re finished rolling them all up, line them side by side on top of the layer of castaway grape leaves on the bottom of your pot. Make sure they are all nice and snug against each other! Find a plate just big enough to fit inside your pot, and place it on top of your grape leaves. Now pour in water or broth, some tomato sauce and half a lemon juiced, just to the rim of the  plate. Cover your pot, bring it to a boil over medium-high heat, and reduce to a simmer for one hour.

Serve with yogurt! Yum! By the way, these are just as delicious served cold the next day, right out of the fridge!