Recipe for Lentil Soup with Celery, Carrot, Tomato and Spices ...

Chopped Celery and Carrots - M. Pannecoucke

Looking for a refreshing, healthy alternative to meat and potatoes? Try this simple recipe for lentil soup with carrots and celery and enjoy good health.

Lentils are a great source of iron, fibre, protein, folate, and several vitamins. Not only are lentils quite healthy, but they have a pleasant taste and a shelf life that lasts, making them easy to store and save until needed. Lentils make an excellent soup. Try this recipe for lentil soup with celery, carrot and tomato.

Makes soup for two or three. Increase ingredients accordingly for larger pans of soup.

Lentil Soup Ingredients:

• 2 or 3 cloves of garlic
• ? small onion
• 2 stalks of celery
• 10 to 15 baby carrots
• 1 cup lentils
• 4.5 cups water
• 1 medium tomato
• 1 tsp basil
• 1, ? tsp parsley
• 1 tsp thyme
• ? tsp caraway
• ? tsp fennel
• 1, ? tsp Italian spice
• 1, ? tsp salt

*Spices measurements are approximate.

Directions:

1. Chop the garlic and onions into small pieces and place in a medium saucepan.
2. Chop one stalk of celery and half the carrot into finely chopped pieces. A Slap Chop works well for this step, as you can easily ?Slap Chop? the celery until it is in tiny pieces. Otherwise, try slicing the carrot and celery, then turn the knife sideways and cut through your slices. Turn the knife back to its original position and cut again. Continuing this pattern helps cut vegetables into finely chopped pieces.
3. Slice the rest of the celery and carrots into small pieces and dice the tomato.
4. In butter or olive oil, Saut? garlic and onion on medium to low heat until limp.
5. Add finely chopped celery and carrots and saut? on low heat for several minutes or until the carrot and celery juices create almost a pulp-like mixture. You may find that you need to add butter or oil as you add vegetables. Try not to allow the saut? mixture to dry.
6. Add chopped celery and carrot and saut? on medium heat for approximately five minutes.
7. Add water, raise heat and bring to a boil.
8. Add lentils to the boiling water, set heat to low or minimum and allow to simmer for 20 to 30 minutes. Add spices as the water boils and simmers. Stir occasionally.
9. After 15 minutes, add diced tomato.

Lentil Soup Cooking Tips:

Be sure to follow package instructions for lentils. They may have to be rinsed or picked through for foreign matter before cooked.

Lentils easily soak up water, expand and become soft. The soup will be thick if it simmers too long. If the soup is too thick after simmering for 20 minutes, simply add a little water.

Lentils also tend to absorb salt. Try not to over salt the soup, even if it cannot be tasted quite so well, as too much salt can be unhealthy. Instead, add more spices to taste. Caraway and fennel tend to be stronger spices and may be tasted more than the others. They are a refreshing addition to lentil soup.

Enjoy the health benefits of lentils with this simple recipe for lentil soup. Add carrots, celery, tomato, and several spices for additional health benefits and flavour.

Sources:

"The Health Benefits of Lentils." Elements4Health.com

"Power Food: Lentils." WholeLiving.com

Copyright Michelle Wright. Contact the author to obtain permission for republication.

Michelle Wright - Michelle is an avid reader and writer, with a focus on book, film and music reviews, gluten free recipes, and fiction writing ...

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