Lentils are in great demand among adherents of a healthy diet and athletes. The fact is that with a relatively low calorie content, this representative of the legume family is quite capable of replacing meat. 100 g of lentils contains 24 g of easily digestible vegetable protein, and dishes from it can satisfy your hunger for a long time. In addition, the composition of beans includes mineral substances important for the human body, for example, potassium, iron, calcium, iodine, manganese and others. In our article, we will talk about how to cook simple and delicious lentil soup. Recipes of the best dishes are offered below.
Features and recommendations for cooking
As a rule, two main varieties of lentils are used for cooking:
- red, or "Egyptian" - does not have a shell, therefore it is cooked faster than other types;
- green, or “French,” are unripe beans of a plant that take longer to cook and practically do not boil.
Red lentils are ideal for cream soup, while green is better to add to salads. It retains its shape during cooking and is recommended for use by people who have problems with intestinal motility.
The following tips will make it easy and delicious to cook lentil soup according to the recipes below:
- Before boiling, regardless of the selected variety of beans, it is recommended to soak for 3-7 hours.
- In cream soup, you should definitely add spices that contribute to better absorption of legumes: turmeric, coriander, ginger, black pepper.
- Lentils are not recommended to be boiled in salted water, as this will only increase the time of its preparation. Salt the beans preferably at the end of cooking.
Ingredients for Lentil Soup with Vegetables
Despite the fact that this dish is prepared without meat, it is hearty, with a rich taste and pleasant aroma. And all thanks to the high protein content, which is easily absorbed by the body almost in full.
For those people who monitor their weight, it will be useful to know that the calorie content of lentil cream soup prepared according to the recipe below is only 57 kcal per 100 g. This allows you to include the dish in the diet during the diet.
To prepare a vegetable cream soup, you will need the following ingredients: 100 g of red lentils, 300 g of eggplant and tomatoes, onions, garlic, a bunch of fresh basil, vegetable oil, salt, ground pepper and bay leaf. Legumes are recommended to soak in advance for at least 5 hours, and preferably at night.
Step by step recipe for red lentil cream soup
When cooking this dish, you must follow a certain sequence of steps:
- Thoroughly pre-soaked lentils in a colander under running water, then transfer to a saucepan and pour clean. Add bay leaf here. Cook the lentils on low heat for 15 minutes.
- Peel the eggplant, cut into cubes and fry in vegetable oil.
- In a separate frying pan, sauté the onion and two slices of finely chopped garlic.
- Blanch the tomatoes, peel them, cut into cubes and add to the onion and garlic. Fry vegetables together for 5 minutes.
- Transfer eggplant into a pan with lentils ready, and after another 5 minutes add tomato dressing, salt, pepper and finely chopped basil.
- Boil the soup for 10 minutes, then cool it slightly and grind it with a hand blender until puree.
Lentil cream soup prepared according to this recipe is recommended to be served with croutons. To do this, you only need bread, spices and a little vegetable oil.
Garlic Croutons for Cream Soup
Do not worry too much that the stale bread that is in the house will disappear. From it you can always cook delicious crackers for salad or lentil cream soup. The recipe for fragrant and crispy croutons is very simple:
- Cut off the crust from the stale loaf. For toasts, it is not needed.
- Cut the crumb into medium-sized cubes.
- Pour olive or other vegetable oil into the pan and put 2-3 slices of garlic crushed by the flat side of the knife. After 1 minute, remove it from the pan.
- Pour salt and spices into the pan to taste. Suitable oregano, basil, thyme, rosemary.
- Put the prepared bread for spices and pour the aromatic oil. Cover the pan and shake its contents well.
- Put the bread slices on a baking sheet and put it in the oven for 15 minutes.
Turkish Lentil Cream Soup
The next soup has a consistency of gentle mashed potatoes and a spicy taste. When serving, be sure to sprinkle with hot pepper and sprinkle with olive oil. The best dishes for winter weather can not be found. Delicious Turkish lentil soup turns out to be warming and nutritious at the same time. A step-by-step dish should be prepared in the following sequence:
- In a saucepan with a thick bottom or a large stewpan in olive oil (2 tbsp. L.), Sauté onions and carrots.
- After 7 minutes, add the tomato paste (2 tbsp.) And flour (1 tbsp.) To the vegetables, as well as spices: cumin and dried thyme (1/2 tsp each), mint and a teaspoon of paprika.
- Once the spices are warmed up, washed lentils (1 tbsp.) Are laid out in the pan and poured with water or vegetable broth (1 l). The contents of the pan are brought to a boil, salt is added to taste.
- Lentil soup is cooked for 30 minutes, until the beans are boiled well enough.
- The finished soup is interrupted by a blender until a smoothie is smooth, after which it returns to the stove again and warms up well. Salt and hot pepper are added to taste.
- When served in a plate with cream soup, juice is squeezed out of a lemon wedge.
Creamy Red Lentil Cream Soup
The recipe for this dish consists of just a few sequential steps:
- Rinse red lentils (50 g) under running water. If other varieties are used to make the soup, the beans should be soaked for 3-5 hours.
- Put the lentils in a saucepan, pouring it with water so that its level is 1 cm higher. If necessary, during the cooking process, it will be necessary to add fluid.
- Cut the onion in half rings, and carrots in small cubes.
- Fry vegetables in olive oil until golden brown.
- Transfer the onions and carrots to the pan to the lentils, salt and pepper the soup.
- Cook the dish over low heat for another 7 minutes.
- Add chopped greens of dill, parsley, basil.
- Pour 50 ml of cream into the pan.
- Finished soup right in the dishes in which it was cooked, grind with a blender. Give lentil cream soup (according to the recipe, it is prepared with cream), brew for 3-5 minutes and can be poured onto plates. If desired, it is permissible to prepare croutons for it.
Lentil cream soup with cream and cheese
The next soup has a rich lentil flavor with a slight acidity, which is given to the dish by tomatoes. Depending on the amount of water used in the preparation, it may have a different consistency. This lentil cream soup with cream is recommended to be served with grated parmesan, spicy herbs and crackers. Then it will be even tastier.
To prepare the soup, lentils (200 g) should be cooked until cooked on low heat. At this time, it is necessary to make a dressing of onions, carrots and chopped tomatoes (2 pcs.). Diced lentils are first diced with potatoes and then tomato seasoning. The soup is cooked for another 20 minutes, after which extruded garlic, salt, bay leaf is added to it. Ready soup is interrupted by a blender. When served, cream and cheese are added to it.
Vegetable cream soup with chicken and lentils
This soup has a silky texture, rich taste and low calorie content (59 kcal). The step-by-step recipe for this dish is as follows:
- Yellow lentils (120 g) are poured with cool water.
- Chicken fillet (2 pcs.) Is put in a pan with boiling water (3 l) and cooked over medium heat for 30 minutes.
- Onions in a pan are fried with carrots.
- Cooked dressing is added to the broth along with tomatoes (2 pcs.), Crushed in small pieces.
- After 10 minutes, lentils are added to the soup, as well as potatoes (500 g), zucchini (250 g) and a celery stalk.
- According to this recipe, lentil cream soup is cooked for 40 minutes. At the end of cooking, salt and spices are added to it, after which it is brought to a consistency of mashed potato with a blender.
Cream soup of mushrooms and lentils in a slow cooker
The following recipe will help diversify the monotonous menu in the post. A dish is also suitable for those who follow a low-carb diet.
At the very beginning of the preparation of the soup, the onions and carrots are fried in olive oil in a multicooker bowl. After 7 minutes, mushrooms (150 g) are added here, and after 3 minutes, diced potatoes (4 pcs.) Are laid out. Green lentils (80 g) pour out on top. All ingredients are poured with water (1.5 l), salt and pepper are poured. The multicooker lid closes, the "Extinguishing" mode is set for 1 hour. After a specified time, the finished soup is crushed to a creamy texture and served for lunch.