It’s soooo cold here! (read: below 75 degrees) So, I’ve been really into soups lately, if you can’t tell. Earlier this week I got an email from Lindsay with a red lentil soup recipe that she had found on Bodyrock.tv (link may be NSFW) and it looked scrumptious! Seeing that I had a big bag of red lentils in my cupboard, I had to make some. Well, I have to say that this Vegan Red Lentil Stew turned out phenomenal.
Serve this Vegan Red Lentil Stew with some hearty bread (or pita like in the pictures) to make sure that you have complete proteins. Legumes + grains = all of the amino acids that you need.
Aso, make sure you get red lentils and not brown or green for this recipe. Red lentils break down very quickly when cooked which is what makes this Vegan Red Lentil Stew so wonderfully thick and hearty! Even though I probably over paid for these red lentils, can you believe how inexpensive this is? I mean, WOW.
Vegan Red Lentil Stew
Vegan Red Lentil Stew
Servings 6Ingredients
- 2 Tbsp olive oil ($0.24)
- 1 medium yellow onion ($0.28)
- 2 cloves garlic ($0.16)
- 3 oz tomato paste ($0.26)
- 1 cup dry red lentils ($1.20)
- 1/2 lb carrots ($0.55)
- 1 medium potato ($0.49)
- 6 cups vegetable broth** ($0.78)
- 1 Tbsp cumin ($0.15)
- 1 tsp smoked paprika ($0.10)
- 3/4 tsp salt ($0.05)
- 1/8 tsp cayenne pepper ($0.02)
Instructions
- Dice the onion and mince the garlic. Cook both in a large pot with olive oil over medium heat until soft and transparent (about 5 minutes). Add the tomato paste and continue to stir and cook for about 3-4 minutes more. The tomato paste will caramelize during this time, which will make it sweeter and cause it to look slightly darker.
- While the ingredients in the first step are cooking, peel and dice the potato and carrots. Rinse the lentils. Once the tomato paste has caramelized, add the carrots, potato, and lentils to the pot.
- Also add 6 cups of vegetable broth, cumin, smoked paprika, and cayenne pepper. Give everything a good stir to make sure it’s mixed well. Place a lid on top, turn the heat up to high, and bring the soup to a boil. As soon as it reaches a full boil, turn the heat down to its lowest level and allow it to simmer for 30 minutes.
- After it has simmered for 30 minutes give the pot a stir and add the salt, starting with 1/2 teaspoon. Add more if desired. I used about 3/4 teaspoon total. Serve hot!
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Notes
Nutrition
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Step By Step Photos
As always – dice the onion, mince the garlic. Cook both with olive oil over medium heat until soft.
Once the onions are soft, add the tomato paste. It will start out very bright red like this. (Don’t toss the rest of the tomato paste in the can, it can be frozen and used later).
Continue to stir and cook the tomato paste with the onions for 3-4 minutes. It will get a little dry and turn a deeper shade of red. That’s what you want. Make sure to stir often (although continuously is not necessary).
While all of that is going on, peel and dice the potato and carrots. I used a half pound of carrots, which is about 3-4 medium carrots or half of that bag.
Also, as with any dry bean product, make sure to give the lentils a good rinse. They’re so small that they’d slip through the slits in my colander, so I used a wire mesh sieve.
Add the potatoes, carrots, and lentils to the pot.
Add six cups of vegetable broth, cumin, smoked paprika, and cayenne pepper. Stir everything well to make sure the tomato paste is dissolved in. Put a lid on top, turn the heat up to high, and let it come to a boil. As soon as it reaches a boil, turn the heat down to the lowest setting and let it simmer there for 30 minutes (with the lid on).
After it has simmered for 30 minutes, the lentils will have soaked up a lot of the liquid and gotten all nice and soft. Stir everything together. Add the salt, starting with just 1/2 teaspoon, give it a taste, and then add more if desired.
Serve hot!
Quite hearty and delicious! Vegan Red Lentil Stew for the win.
Yum! I’m so excited that the one type of lentils I’ve found so far (China!) are the red ones. I also love that the ingredients are very easy to find everywhere (minus cayenne and paprika, but I CAN get those!). So excited to be making this tonight with a little bit of pork!
Love red lentil soup. This is like a jazzed up version of the one I make. I make one with just carrot, cumin, garlic and onion a lot, but caramelize the onions first. I always add homemade curried croutons as a flourish at the end. Also good with a blob of plain yogurt added. Toasted pita stuffed with cheddar or yogurt cheese is also a good accompaniment. Will definitely try your version!
this is such a comforting dish. I love the use of red lentils because unlike other lentils, its very quick in cooking and has milder taste. the weather in dallas is still warm so not appropriate for soup :(
I make a red lentil Dahl that is yummy.. it’s my sons favorite. I will try this. I always have lentils on hand! :)
If you like the red lentils- another direction you can take them is mulligatawny stew. Very similar ingredients but takes an indian twist.
Looks delicious! I always use canned lentils because it’s so easy, but I’ll make an exception for this one.
I find that soup develops better flavor if I bloom the spices with the veggies before the liquid goes in.
That sounds fabulous, and I think I have most of the ingredients already. I’m going to have to wait a bit, though, as my water is apparently turned off due to a nearby water main break. Thanks for the recipe though!
I actually just ran out of lentils this week and need to stop by the Indian grocery store this weekend. I love grabbing my spices and dried goods there in bulk!
This looks so yummy and perfect for Fall.
Wow this looks so simple and good! I know it defeats the purpose/ name but I’ll probably add a tablespoon of cold butter stirred in at the end to give it a nice subtle richness. It’s a trick a lot of people use for healthy soups and tomato sauces and it’s truly incredible! Makes the soup taste creamy, rich, and decadent for really just a miniscule (1 tbsp proportionate to the entire pot!) amount of butter!
Shannon – Yes, the texture will be quite different. Red lentils cook up very soft and mushy and pretty much dissolve into the stew, whereas regular (brown or green) lentils will, for the most part, stay whole leaving you with more broth-like soup.
This looks great! I hope I can find red lentils. I usually can only find them if we go into the big city…they certainly aren’t local. We love regular lentil soup too. Thanks for posting!
I can’t find red or green lentils here in my area. If I use regular lentils will there be a big difference in taste or texture?
MMM… This looks delicious!!! Can’t wait to make it! Thanks.
Oh this soup look awesome! I’m definitely going to be trying this one.