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.
Just made this – delicious! I used sweet potatoes instead of regular and threw in a splash of wine and a pinch of red pepper flakes, too! This recipe will definitely be made again during the coming months (Seattle winters are pretty gloomy, this soup will be most welcome).
Becca – You can try using any type of pureed tomato product, but you might want to add double since it won’t be concentrated like tomato paste. Also, try reducing the broth just a little to make up for the added volume of the pureed tomatoes.
Do you know of any good substitutes for tomato paste? I don’t know if I can find it easily here in Israel.
Thanks for the quick response!!))
Anonymous – Absolutely, chicken broth would be great :)
Do you think this would be okay with chicken broth instead of the vegetable broth?
Made it, ate it, loved it.
This came out delicious! Wow! Can’t believe I just cooked this masterpiece!
that’s pretty much how i make it, except no potato and i puree at the end. i also add fresh lemon juice and dried or fresh mint, to make it Turkish!
I made this tonight and it was FABULOUS. I thought it wouldn’t be very flavorful, but it packed a punch! First time trying red lentils, and I am hooked. Thank you so much!
I think everyone in my neighborhood must be making this because the red lentil bin was nearly empty at my grocery store today! Can’t wait to try it!
LOL are you joking about the temperature outside? Here in Utah we think 45 is really nice weather, as long as it’s sunny. Anyway. Thank you for a great site with good VEGAN recipes.
http://www.miamourboutique.com
Thank you for making something us vegans can eat! (even though many of your recipes can be easily converted over..yet another reason I adore your site). I dig lentils too..so cheap, healthy and filling AND I’ve been itching to make soup. Perfect!
another variation would be to add some coconut milk towards the end of cooking…gives it a great richness.
Bonjour, bravo pour les jolies recettes que vous partagez avec nous.
Votre soupe de lentilles rouges, me plait beaucoup.
Un bonjour de la PROVENCE, FRANCE