Red Lentil Soup- Addas

Today in Melbourne, Australia it's cold and rainy. So what better way to warm up then with a gorgeous red lentil soup! Probably not ideal for my friends in the northern hemisphere this time of year, but maybe just save this recipe for colder weather. 

This is a recipe that was taught to me by my beautiful mama. She of course never gave me exact measurements, it was always, a little bit of this a little but of that and just taste as you go. Well that doesn't exactly work! With this recipe I've actually worked out the correct measurements and its here for all to enjoy. 

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Flavouring the water, I've added half an onion with two garlic cloves 

Chopped my carrots into rounds, but doesn't matter how you cut them they will be processed in the end. 

Chopped the sweet potato

Now in the pot the carrots, sweet potato and lentils... 

Lentils should be soft to the touch and look mushy. 

Placed ladles of the soup into my food mill... I like the texture of the lentil soup being passed through the food mill 

The end result... A smooth and beautiful looking soup 

Sauté your onions 

Add garlic and mix to combine 

This is what it should look like once you've added the ground cumin

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7 cups of water

3 carrots 

1 sweet potato

2 cups red lentils

2 whole cloves of garlic

1 onion, cut in half

2-3 tbls crushed garlic

2-3 tsp ground cumin

3 tbls butter

Salt

In a large pot add your 7 cups of water, half a peeled onion and the 2 whole cloves of garlic. Season the water with salt and bring to a simmer. The onion and garlic will help flavour the water. 

Chop the carrots so they are fairly the same size pieces. Add the carrots to the pot of water, cook carrots for about 15 mins just so they have soften a little. Since they take the longest to cook I like to cook them first. 

Next chop your sweet potato, again into same size pieces and add that to the pot with the carrots. You can now add the lentils, stir just to combine everything. Cook on a low heat for about 30 mins or until the lentils are soft and fully cooked through. 

While your pot of veggies and lentils are cooking, finely chop the other half of the onion.  In a separate saucepan add 3 tbls of butter and about 1/4 cup of the finely chopped onion. Sauté the onion for 5 mins then add your chopped garlic. This is a called a tetlea in Arabic. You want to cook the onion and garlic until fragrant, being careful not to burn the garlic. Now to the same saucepan add the ground cumin. Cook for a further 5 mins and remove from heat. This will be added to the lentils later. 

Once your lentils and veggies have cooked remove from heat and using a food mill or had blender, blend the soup in batches. I used a food mill because it gives in a nice texture... However a hand blender will work just fine. 

Once the lentils and veggies have been incorporated, and passed through the food mill add your garlic and onion sauté. If you find at this stage your soup is a bit to thick just add some warm water a little bit at a time until you get a consistency that you are happy with.