Lentil Soup – Quick, healthy and delicious soup prepared with lentils and dried red peppers.
A monster snow storm decided to take us down for three days last week. We had to deal with power outages which meant no TV, no computers, no internet (!!!) and uncharged cellular phones and laptops. You would think that by now, after 20 years of brutal Chicago snow storms, I would have learned to finally buy an electric generator. Nope. Still haven’t. And I don’t know why because I know what’s coming: boredom!
In all honesty, after a few hours we were all kind of sick of each other. What did we do before cell phones and the internet? Can you remember? Slept? Talked? Maybe even argued a bit more? Hmmmm…
But, wow, were we happy when that power came back on! My daughter, my niece, and I were back in the kitchen cooking up our favorite lentil soup that I had promised them, while hubby hung out in front of the TV catching up on the latest Soccer news.
Weather Gods, I am talking to you; seven hours without electricity is pretty cruel – give us a break next time around, please. I mean, I don’t mind being snowed in as long as everyone is home and the electricity is working. Thank you for listening.
If my grandma read this, she would say that the world has spoiled us rotten and then she would go into how she grew up with a lantern and gave birth to four kids inside her barely lit, phone-less house.
Speaking of grandma, (HI BABA! :)), this recipe is completely hers, and it is our favorite way to prepare lentil soup.
ENJOY!
Quick, healthy and delicious soup prepared with lentils and dried red peppers.
- 8 oz. lentils
- 2 sweet red dried peppers
- 1 large onion quartered
- 3 cloves garlic quartered
- 6 cups vegetable broth or water
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1 teaspoon dried rosemary
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 tablespoon cayenne pepper
In a large soup pot, add in the lentils, peppers, onions and garlic.
Pour in the water, set it over high heat and bring to a boil.
Lower it to medium-low heat and let it simmer for 15 minutes.
Ladle out some lentils and all of the red peppers into a bowl; season with salt, pepper, and rosemary. Mash it all with a fork and return to the pot. Make sure that you’ve mashed up the red peppers.
- Continue to simmer for 10 more minutes.
- In a separate sauce-pan heat up the oil over medium heat. The oil is ready when bubbles create around a wooden spoon.
Stir the cayenne pepper into the heated oil and stir continuously for until well combined and fragrant.
Stir the cayenne pepper mixture into the soup and let simmer for another 5 minutes.
Remove from heat and serve.
WW FREESTYLE POINTS: 3
Love roasted peppers! Gorgeous rich color to your soup
Didnt know you were a mom! 🙂
Ok, so I’m a little late to the party, but I’m glad I didn’t miss it. WOW, this looks amazing! I can smell the wonderful flavors right now. I need to find a deep clay pot!
Is your husband a Chicago Fire fan if he’s watching soccer or does he stick with Europe’s teams? My brother is HUGE into the Fire.
Oooo, this looks like a great dish to cure the snowstorm blues! Spicy foods always press my happy button! Cute kiddos. 🙂
Boy, that is a lot of snow, but glad you found some delicious things to do to get through it.
wow, 7 hours without electricity… cruel, indeed. we had 13 hours few weeks ago…
this is simple beautiful honest food. I love it. I always enjoy your style of cooking so much Kate!
thank you for sharing.
I hope you get warmer over there, I’m sending you and your family some California sunshine
Hooo, that soup could do some good at my house! Can you send a bowl to southern Illinois help melt all our ice? I love love LOVE that crock! Great recipe!
that pot is so cool! my mom collects all sorts of ancient artifacts and she would love to add this to her collection…lol
i am in chicago too and we had that power outage as well. i know exactly what you mean… i was sooooooo bored! i didn’t know what to do… couldn’t bake/cook, no tv, no internet 🙁
i swear life had suddenly stopped! lol
I can not even fathom your weather!! I know I am totally spoiled! I’m so glad that you included pictures of outside for us to see too.
Love the soup! I’m so glad that your power returned, I’m guessing that your house cooled off pretty quickly. bbbrrr!
Nicely done to your grandma!
This soup sounds wonderful! I love the spicy roux! YUM!
So glad your electricity came back on! We are so spoiled aren’t we? This lentil soup sounds absolutely fantastic!
I’m glad you all made it through that blizzard : ) Your Grandma’s soup looks delicious. I’m going to try this recipe very soon; i just adore lentil soup.
Now that is a perfect soup for anyone caught in the clutches of winter. That’s a lot of snow. Your pictures are fantastic. Stay warm and dry. Blessings…Mary
Wonderful pictures…..man that is a lot of snow.
Nothing tastier than a soup with a hint of zest in the cold weather.
With such a blizzard this soup I am sure warmed your body and soul!
That’s a lot of snow for sure 🙂 This lentil soup looks amazing! I am very intrigued by your technique of making a cayenne pepper roux, will definitely have to try that!
Hey Kate!
WOW!!! This looks awesome!!!! Can’t wait to try it!!!!
Al
Can’t go wrong with grandmas recipes-the soup looks so comforting!
What would we do without our grandma’s soup? Looks incredible with the dried peppers in there. Wow! Glad to see you back online. It’s times like this that we start to think…. heaven forbid! Scary snowy photos.
That recipe looks lovely, I make a similar one using red lentils. This recipe also looks very Turkish. My children have a baba too.
umm, 7 hours without power in those weather conditions is a serious issue! does that affect the heat as well?!!! i’m glad you’re back, although i could hardly tell you were w.o. internet. i see your comments at all the food blogs and your posts on foodbuzz every few hours =)
Oh my! That picture of your cars is incredible, and the girls are so adorable. We’ve had a few years in Seattle where the snow made life miserable, so I can relate.
I love the kick you give your lentil soup. Tons of flavor!
Kristi
Dear God, I’m asking you the same thing as Kate did. No more outages please, the last one (almost 1 day) was more than enough. Thank you.
the soup sounds so good. love your clay pot. my grandma used to have one and was cooking beans in it. ah, home sweet home.
have a wonderful day Kate
Oh my gosh! I don’t know if I could live with all that snow…well maybe if I had this soup I could!
Wow that is definitely a lot of snow! So glad you survived. The soup looks delicious. Can’t wait to try it. I have a package of lentils in my cupboard waiting for this recipe.
Amazing looking colour in that soup!! A great way to weather the storm so to speak. Hope the snow melts soon.
Hi Kate-I love lentils and am loving your Baba’s recipe! Wow-looks nice and spicy.I have never seen that much snow before! So sorry to hear you were w/out power.The kids are too cute all bundled up.
I love the clay pot! This would be perfect during a blizzard, looks delicious!
I also Survived the Blizzard of 2011 in the Chicago burbs, but fortunately my power didn’t go out. Your soup certainly looks live survival food. I have lentils in my pantry, but I may have to add less cayenne pepper, but otherwise you soup looks so good. Love your snow pictures.
What a wonderful recipe from your Baba! We got the same storm…but more ice than snow. Now in for a deep freeze…when will Spring be here
healthy flavourful delicious dish
Lentils are my favorites nice post!
Super duper like !!! with all that pepper .. wow!!!
I cannot believe the brutal winter that everyone is having! We have many family and friends that have been battling the frozen tundra (as my sister calls it). Satisfying comfort foods help – as does electricity and a hefty dose of cayenne pepper! I’ve never prepared lentil soup in a clay pot or with a roux, but it certainly looks delicious.
I could almost smell the cayenne peppers aroma floating through the screen! Lovley tasty soup with nostaliga! Thank you for sharing kate 🙂
Mmmmm, лeќa ! Looks delicious, now I want some so badly !
I’d love a bowl of this soup during our next storm!
Blizzards bring out the cook in us don’t they? Last time we were snow and ice bound it was lentil soup here, as well! Lentil and Sausage which we’ll post soon. Your soup with the dried red peppers is delightful and the pinch of the mint is a nice touch. Yummy!
Sounds delicious. We need to get us one of those gorgeous clay pots!
What a delicious way to survive the storm! The color of the soup is gorgeous.
Love it! Comfort Food at it’s finest! You Rock Girlfriend!
I love lentil soup! Such a healthy comfort food!
Oh I could eat this right now I’m so cold!! YUM!
Kate, I can’t imagine how you are surviving all that snow!! We would probably die here :))
I love your soup!! This is one of my favorite and quite less ones I make at home… Yours look sooooo tasty and comforting!! And I love your pot 🙂
gosh…that’s a really winter! The soup looks really warm and delicious.
This soup looks delicious! Love that it is so simple, and has just a few ingredients!
That looks really yummy! I love lentils! Hope you keep surviving the nasty blizzard!
That blizzard packed a whallop! You do know how to survive it. Am making lentil soup tonight but rethinking my recipe as I gaze longingly at yours with those dried peppers.
I love the ingredients in this soup. My only questions is where can I get dried peppers?
I have a vegetable garden and in the fall when we pick our peppers, I dry the red ones together with the tomatoes out in the sun for a couple of days.
But I have also seen them at farmer’s markets. I hope that you’ll be able to find them!
Wow this soup looks amazing! Love all the flavors. I used to have a Baba too (she was Ukrainian)! They are the best 🙂
Soup look great, love the nice color! And I those blizzard photos, I can’t even believe! It is crazy!