Recipe Moroccan Tomato, Lentil and Onion Soup

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This is a lovely soup, totally different to most of my other soups in that the flavour is quite delicate and light, yet the soup is very filling.

All of the spices are best freshly ground if you can.

Serves 6

Ingredients
1 tbsp Olive oil
2 medium to large onions, sliced
2 stalks of celery, diced or sliced
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 inch knob freshly grated ginger
1 1/2 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp smoked (sweet) paprika
1 tbsp sweet paprika
1 tsp ground tumeric
1/2 kg fresh tomatoes, chopped
1 cup brown or green lentils
1.5L vegetable stock/chickpea cooking liquid or aquafaba
1 cup of dried chickpeas cooked, retain the cooking liquid or 1 tin of chickpeas, don't bother draining them
2 nests brown rice vermicelli
Juice of 1 lemon
1 tbsp plain flour
2 tbsp tomato pureé
1 large bunch fresh coriander, chopped
1 large bunch fresh parsley, chopped

Method

1. If you are using dried chickpeas that have been soaked overnight, cook them as per their instructions. My preference is to use the pressure cooker which means once it is up to pressure, they will only take 20-25 minutes. If you cook them with 1 stick cinnamon and 1 tbsp cumin seeds in the water, they will have a lot more flavour. Either way, retain the cooking water for later use.
2. Heat the oil in a casserole pan (or saucepan large enough to hold it all easily). Add the onions and celery and stir so everything is well coated in oil. Cook until the celery is losing its crunch and the onion still has a little left . Add all the spices (cinnamon through to tumeric), stir well and cook for about a minute or so until the fragrance of the spices can be smelt. Now add the tomatoes and lentils and cook for a few more minutes before adding the stock. A note about the stock. You want 1.5L in total but you'll have more flavour if you use the chickpea cooking water or chickpea canning liquid (assuming no added sugar or salt) and make the volume up with vegetable stock to 1.5L in total.
3. Bring to the boil, cover and simmer for around 25-30 minutes to cook the lentils.
4. Once almost cooked, add the chickpeas and broken up brown rice vermicelli, stir in well and return to boil.
5. Just before you're ready to serve, mix the lemon juice, tomato pureé and flour into a paste in a 500ml bowl. Carefully mix in 250ml of stock from the soup. Now pour it back into the soup, stir well and return to the boil, stirring all the time as the soup thickens. Continue stirring as the flour cooks, roughly a couple of minutes.
6. Just before serving, stir in the fresh herbs and season if needed.

We serve it over Ikea veggie balls which are both vegan and packed full of flavour and protein which adds to make a nicely balanced meal. A slice a crusty bread makes for a nice addition.

Adapted from Veggiestan cookbook by Sally Butcher

 

[Karen W]

Looks delicious! I'll look for veggie balls next time I'm at Ikea. I like their meatballs. Heard they will be opening more stores.