Red Lentil Tomato Soup

• porções: 4 servings
• tempo ativo: 15 minutes
• tempo total: 45 minutes

Ingredientes

1 cup (180g) red lentils, soaked overnight

6 medium (2.2 lbs or 980g) fresh tomatoes, quartered

1 medium (9.5 oz or 275g) brown onion, sliced into wedges

1 head of garlic, tops sliced off

Olive oil and kosher salt for roasting

3-4 tbsp olive oil

2 tbsp (42g) tomato paste

1-inch piece (10g) ginger, microplaned

1 tsp cumin seeds (sub with 1/2 tsp ground cumin)

1/2 tsp each ground coriander, cayenne pepper, and turmeric

2 cups water or stock (plus more as needed)

1/2 cup (110g) full-fat coconut milk, from a can

Kosher salt to taste (used 2-3 tsp total)

1/4 cup finely minced cilantro

Squeeze of lemon

Instruções

Soak the lentils

The night before, soak the lentils in water and cover. Before cooking the lentils, drain and rinse them thoroughly.

Preheat the oven to 450°F and line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.

Roast the veggies and aromatics

Add the quartered tomatoes, onion, and garlic to the prepared sheet pan. Drizzle generously with olive oil and kosher salt, and toss to coat everything thoroughly. Rub the garlic head with an extra bit of olive oil and nestle between the veggies. I like to place all of the tomatoes cut-side up to prevent them from sticking to the tray (especially if you aren’t using parchment paper). Roast the veggies and aromatics in the preheated oven for 30-35 minutes, or until slightly charred. NOTE: I like to char the tomatoes and onions just a bit, because char equals deeper flavor.

Fry the tomato paste and spices

To a large pot, add the olive oil, tomato paste, and ginger, and fry over medium-high heat for 3-4 minutes. Sprinkle in the spices and saute for 30 seconds to 1 minute, no more. NOTE: Browning the tomato paste helps remove the bitter undernote that most tomato paste has, and enhances its flavor. Additionally, blooming the aleppo pepper helps bring out the heat and flavor even more.

Cook the lentils

Dump in the rinsed and drained lentils, along with the water, coconut milk, and 1-2 tsp of kosher salt. Bring the soup to a boil over high heat, then cover, reduce the heat to medium, and let the lentils cook until they begin to fall apart, about 15 minutes.

Blend the soup

Once the veggies and aromatics are done roasting, carefully remove the skins from the tomatoes (I like to let them cool a bit to make it less hazardous haha) and squeeze out the roasted garlic. Then transfer the roasted veggies and aromatics to a large blender, along with half of the cooked lentil soup. Blend until creamy and smooth, about 2 minutes. Dump back into the pot and stir to combine. Adjust for salt as needed, and add more water depending on how thin you prefer the soup.

Serve

Add in the minced cilantro and squeeze of lemon and serve warm. I love spooning this soup over white rice – it tastes phenomenal!