Lentil soup - general principles and methods of cooking
Lentils as a culture have been known since prehistoric times. It was prepared by the ancient Greeks and Romans. These beans are spread on almost all continents - they are eaten in America and India, in European and Eastern countries. Lentils prepare salads, appetizers, meatballs, mashed potatoes, stews, and, of course, cook soups. Beans are rich in trace elements, contain soluble fiber, but especially they contain a lot of folic acid, magnesium, potassium and iron. To ensure that iron is better absorbed, lentils are prepared with foods rich in vitamin C — greens, tomatoes, and red pepper.
According to connoisseurs of Chinese medicine, lentils are warming foods, especially if they are cooked with spices and spices, then its warming properties are enhanced. Therefore, lentil soup is the best suited for the winter diet, especially those people who live in the northern regions.
Lentil Soup - Food Preparation
There are many varieties of lentils, but the most famous are brown, red, green, Beluga. The quickest preparation is red, it becomes soft after 15 minutes of cooking, so it is not necessary to soak it beforehand. But if green lentils are used for soup, or brown, it is better to soak them in order to shorten the cooking time. Soak the beans for three hours, but if time allows, it is better to leave overnight. The water in which the lentils were soaked is poured, the beans are washed and then put into soup.
Lentil Soup - Best Recipes
Recipe 1: Lentil Soup with Sausages
Retseptic borrowed from German cuisine. In the original, German sausages are taken for soup, but it is very tasty with smoked sausages of domestic production. Try to cook, the soup is not boiled for a long time, but the taste is amazing. Ingredients: 4 sausages, 250g lentils, wheat flour - 1 tbsp, 1 onion and 2 carrots, 1 tsp. Vinegar (6-9%), not sharp mustard - 1 tbsp, bay leaf -1-2pcs., vegetable oil, 200g sour cream, salt, pepper, parsley - a small bunch.
Method of preparation
Lentil soak overnight. Peel carrots and onions, chop and sprinkle in butter, adding parsley. Pour a spoonful of flour, overcook it and add water (1.5 liters). Add lentils and, boiling, boil over low heat until beans are ready (with the lid closed). Once the lentils are soft, add sour cream, bay leaf, vinegar, salt, mustard, pepper and sausages with parsley in the soup. Let it boil for ten minutes.
Recipe 2: Lentil Soup with Sorrel
It can be said that this is a lentil counterpart of green borscht. Despite the simple ingredients, the soup turns out very tasty. It is cooked on any meat - chicken breast, pork ribs, beef brisket. If you do not find fresh sorrel, use frozen or canned. Yes, so that the color of the ingredients is in harmony, it is better to take green lentils. Consumption products listed at 1.5 liters of water. You can cook without potatoes at all, then the amount of lentils should be increased by two spoons.
Ingredients: 0.3 kg of meat, 2 potatoes, lentils - 3 tbsp, 1 onion, salt, sour cream, a bunch of sorrel, 1 egg, crackers.
Method of preparation
Boil the water, add the lentils there and put the meat, cut into pieces and cook until soft. Then add finely chopped onion and diced potatoes. After 15 minutes, put crushed sorrel, salt. Mix the egg with a couple of spoons of cooled broth from the pan and pour it into the soup, stirring constantly with a spoon so that the egg is evenly distributed throughout the pan. Serve lentil soup and sorrel with sour cream, sprinkle with croutons on top.
Recipe 3: Lentil Stew
Why not make a lentil soup on a frosty winter evening? It quickly quenches hunger, warms the blood, and vegetable ingredients will delight in bright colors. An interesting combination of products: pumpkin gives the dish a slight sweetness, tomatoes - sour taste, chili pepper - spicy spiciness, and all together create a common bouquet with a stunning taste. Some gourmets add a slice of lemon to the plate, claiming that the taste of lentil soup is improving. Try it, maybe you will like it.
Ingredients: 600g lentils, 0.5kg smoked pork ribs, 0.5kg tomatoes in their own juice, 2 carrots, 1 small zucchini, 1 large onion, 0.4kg of pumpkin, 3 garlic cloves, salt, vegetable oil on a pinch of coriander, black pepper and stinging red.
Method of preparation
All vegetables washed and cleaned. Then chop: garlic and onions - finely, carrots, pumpkin and zucchini in small sticks.
Heat the oil, fry the onions and carrots in it for five minutes, then put the zucchini, garlic and pumpkin, stew for another five minutes.
Chop ribs into slices, fry in a skillet without oil for three minutes and place in a saucepan. Add lentils here and pour one and a half liters of boiling water (boiling water). How to boil, remove the foam, reduce the heat and cook for 20 minutes.
Chop the tomatoes - mash with a fork, and put the whole tomato mass into the saucepan, add the fried vegetables, add salt to the soup, bring to the boil, add the fire. Sprinkle with pepper, coriander, and, reducing the heat, let it boil for five minutes. Turn off the stove and let the soup stand for ten minutes. Serve with greens.
Recipe 4: Spiced Lentil Soup with Olives
Despite the fact that the soup is cooked without meat, the taste is rich and the texture is pleasant and velvety. This is half the cream soup, because potatoes and a portion of lentils are ground with a blender. If you want to make something new in the soup, try replacing potatoes with cauliflower. It turns out amazing! The texture is still velvety, and the taste is a little more tender. You can use lentils of green or red color, it does not affect the taste, but the red color is closer to the color scheme. If you cook from green beans, pre-soak them overnight. Ingredients: water - 2.5 l, 1/2 cup of lentils, 4-5 medium-sized potatoes, 3 large tomatoes — fresh or in own juice (you can replace 2 tablespoons of tomato paste) on a pair of medium carrots and celery stalks, fresh or dried greens, salt, pepper, on a big pinch of spices: cumin, ginger, turmeric, 100-150g of seedless olives.
Method of preparation
Peeled potatoes pour water and cook until soft. Straight in a saucepan, crush with a crush or a dip blender.
Cook potatoes while cooking potatoes. Greens and celery medium shred, carrot grate. Sprinkle the carrots until soft in butter, sprinkling it with spices. Add greens with celery, put out a little and add chopped tomatoes or tomato paste, spreading it with a couple of spoons of water. Make sure not to burn.
Two thirds of the total amount of lentils put in a saucepan with potatoes, add zazharku and boil for about fifteen minutes, so that the beans are soft. Once they are softened, lower the immersion blender into the soup and chop the mass to a puree state.
Put in the soup the remaining third of lentils, olives, salt and cook until ready for ten to fifteen minutes. Serve sprinkled with herbs.
