All Shuk Up® Vegan Lentil Soup

At our house, we call it “The Soup”. It is vegan, rich, hearty and so delicious that going back for seconds is inevitable. With that in mind, this recipe yields a huge pot, about 6 quarts. It takes about 20 minutes to make and then 30 minutes to simmer. I serve this warm, nutritious soup for Sunday supper with a fresh loaf of challah and have plenty for leftovers for quick, easy lunches. 

Equipment:

Large 6 qt. soup pot

Cutting board and knife for lots of chopping

Blender or stick blender

Large container(s) to hold leftovers

I highly recommend prepping each of the ingredients before you start cooking so you can just have FUN assembling this soup. 

 

Ingredients:

¼ cup olive oil

1 large onion

6 large fresh carrots (if your carrots are skinny then use more), peeled and chopped

5 garlic cloves, minced

2 Tablespoon All Shuk Up® Meet My Kneads® spice blend (a bright Yemenite mix of turmeric, cumin and spices)

1 Tablespoon Thyme

28 oz. canned diced tomatoes, no need to drain them

5 cups vegetable stock (if you are not going for a vegan meal, you can substitute chicken stock)

1 cup dried red lentils, rinsed and sorted

14 oz. canned chickpeas, drained and rinsed

1 teaspoon kosher salt (you can always add more salt to taste in the end)

1 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper

⅛ - ¼ teaspoon Aleppo pepper or cayenne (or more if you like things spicy)

2 handfuls fresh greens such as kale or fresh spinach

1 fresh lemon for the juice

Ready, set, go!

Add the oil to your large soup pot.  Medium heat.

Sauté the onions and carrots until translucent and softened. About 5 minutes.

Add the garlic and sauté for another minute. 

Add the All Shuk Up® spice blend and sauté another 2 minutes to combine flavors.

Add the diced tomatoes and mix it all in to combine.

Sprinkle the French thyme all around and mix throughout.

Add the stock, lentils, red pepper flakes, chickpeas. 

Bring to boil and then immediately turn down to low simmer, partially covered. 

Simmer for no more than 30 minutes or things may get mushy. Red lentils break down a bit faster than brown or green lentils. If you are not going to serve it right away, then just simmer for 25 minutes, remove it from the heat and then give it a quickie reheat just before serving. 

Salt and pepper to taste.

Use the immersion blender to blend sparingly (zhouzh about 6 times) which will thicken the soup but will still maintain the chunky individuality of most of the onion, carrot, chickpea and lentil ingredients. Mix it around and see if you want it thicker.  You can always zhouzh some more. If you don’t have an immersion blender, you can scoop out 1-2 cups of soup and place it in a blender. Blend it and then return the blended soup to the pot. 

When you are ready to serve- toss in the torn greens and mix them around the warm soup until just wilted. If you feel that your soup is too thick, you can always add a little veg stock (return to boil for a few minutes) to thin it out or to stretch the leftovers. 

Ladle into bowls and hit each bowl with a shpritz of lemon juice. Best served with challah to make it a meal and sop up the last bits. 

If you want to make it dairy, you can add a small dollop of whipped labneh on top of each bowl. OR if you want to make it meat, add some shredded chicken and warm it through. 

This is my riff on a soup recipe from https://cookieandkate.com/.

Bete’avon! I hope your soup is better than mine. Let me know what you think at Susie@meetmykneads.com.

Over and out! I rest my ladle.