====== Red Lentil Soup with Lemon ======

  * 3 tablespoons olive oil, more for drizzling
  * 1 large onion, chopped
  * 2 garlic cloves, minced
  * 1 tablespoon tomato paste
  * 1 teaspoon ground cumin
  * ¼ teaspoon kosher salt, more to taste
  * ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
  * Pinch of ground chile powder or cayenne, more to taste
  * 1 quart chicken or vegetable broth
  * 2 cups water
  * 1 cup red lentils
  * 1 large carrot, peeled and diced
  * Juice of 1/2 lemon, more to taste
  * 3 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro

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  - In a large pot, heat 3 tablespoons oil over high heat until hot and shimmering. Add onion and garlic, and sauté until golden, about 4 minutes.
  - Stir in tomato paste, cumin, salt, black pepper and chili powder or cayenne, and sauté for 2 minutes longer.
  - Add broth, 2 cups water, lentils and carrot. Bring to a simmer, then partially cover pot and turn heat to medium-low. Simmer until lentils are soft, about 30 minutes. Taste and add salt if necessary.
  - Using an immersion or regular blender or a food processor, purée half the soup. Soup should be somewhat chunky.
  - Reheat soup if necessary, then stir in lemon juice and cilantro.
  - Serve soup drizzled with good olive oil and dusted lightly with chili powder if desired.

Variations from comments:
  - I did add an extra 2 cloves of garlic, extra 1/4 c of lentils, an extra carrot, and used 1/4 tsp chili powder, 1/4 tsp cayenne, and 1/4 tsp of kebab spices ( mostly coriander and cumin)
  -  add 1 teaspoon of curry powder to the spices and then serve the soup with a dollop of yogurt. I also saute the carrots with the onion and garlic to bring out more sweetness. 
  - This is a wonderful soup with the following amendments: double the spicing, use three carrots instead of one, and use an entire small can of tomato paste. Salt to taste. I also add a dollop of plain yogurt on top at the end when served with the cilantro.
  - I followed the advice of others here and added a lot more spices: 1 extra TBS of tomato paste, 1 tsp smoked paprika, 1tsp smoked coriander, an additional tsp of salt. Also let it simmer an extra 10 minutes which thickened it up a bit.
  - Made some changes, some taken from the Cooks Illustrated version I just saw in my email. Used both cumin and coriander - both toasted and ground fresh. The coriander has some natural lemon essence. Added a pinch of cinnamon and also a squirt of harissa (and went easy on the chile powder). I also sautéed the carrots with the onion, but that was only because I goofed. Only change for next time - less liquid as others have also suggested. Maybe a bit more tomato paste too.

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  Serves: X      Total cook time: X
  Source: NY Times Cooking - https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1016062-red-lentil-soup-with-lemon



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{{tag>food vegetarian soup }}