“The Bean Queen” has a very ancient biography of cultivation, including in Russian cuisine, where in pre-Petrine times even bread was baked from it.
Now table grades of lentils are still widely distributed in the countries of the Middle East and Asia Minor.
If we add to the above the results of the biochemical composition of lentils, then the useful vegetable is unfairly almost crowded out of our diet.
Lentil Cream Soup - General Cooking Principles
Soups can cook any housewife. Puree soups differ from conventional soups in a creamy texture, achieved by grinding the ingredients with a combine or blender, and by cooking to the desired softness. Of all the legumes cereals, lentils are the most convenient for their rapid heat treatment. The most significant amount of nutrients is concentrated in the seed coat. From it cook porridge, side dishes for any meat or vegetables. Lentils go well with garlic, savory, lemon, cumin and mint.
Lentil soup can be the pride of any chef, if you approach to cooking it creatively and creatively. Lentils do not have a pronounced taste.
Therefore, the taste of lentils depend on the ingredients that are used in combination with it.
Recipe 1. Lentil and Eggplant Cream Soup
Composition:
• Water 1 l
• Blue eggplants 350 - 400 g
• Basil, green 5-6 branches
• Lentils, red 250
• Tomatoes 400 g
• Celery stalks 50 g
Cooking:
Wash the eggplants, peel, salt and leave for about 20 minutes. Boil the washed lentils.
Wash the eggplants, fry slightly and add the browned eggplants to the lentil pan. Cook for 5 minutes. Blanch the tomatoes, peel, mash and add to the pan. Salt, add 30 g celery stalks. Remove the finished soup from the stove and grind in a puree blender.
Serve with a mixture of freshly ground peppers and basil leaves.
Recipe 2. Lentil soup and avocado puree
Composition:
• Oil 50 ml • Cauliflower 6-7 inflorescences
• Tomatoes 350 g
• Avocado 3 pcs.
• Onions 175g
• Lentils 1.5 tbsp.
• Spices
• Chopped garlic 2 tsp
• Celery leaves 50-70 g
• Basil 75-100 g
• Water 2 liters
Cooking:
Cook lentils, fold in a colander and set aside. Cut onions and tomatoes finely, diced. Remove the bones from the avocado and mash. Cabbage blossoms cut into plates. Season the onions and add the chopped tomatoes. Separately saute cabbage slices and set them aside. In the pan we place the folded lentils, browned vegetables, except cabbage, mashed avocado. Fill vegetables with fresh water, cook until ready. Cool the soup slightly, beat the contents of the pan with a blender. Add the browned cabbage, chopped greens, spices. Season with garlic and bring the soup to a boil.
Recipe 3. Lentil soup with potatoes and feta
For soup:
• Water 1.6 liters
• Oregano and basil (leaves).
• Coriander (seeds)
• Celery (root) 50-70 g
• Potatoes 250 g
• Paprika, dried
• Lentils red 250 - 270 g
• Sliced carrots 200 g
• Ghee (optional) 50-70 g
• Apple 120 - 150 g
• Cumin (seeds)
• Ginger root 30 g (fresh)
• Onions, chopped 100-120 g
• Feta 250g
Cooking:
Dice prepared vegetables. Apple and carrots can be grated. Heat the oil in a skillet and pass through all the prepared ingredients until soft. Add lentils, grated ginger, spices, pour all the vegetables with broth and bring to readiness. Slightly cooled soup turn into a puree blender. Served with Feta pieces, oregano leaves and basil.
Recipe 4. Lentil soup with ginger and bacon
Composition:
• Oil (olive) 75 g
• Bacon 250 g
• Onions, chopped 150 g
• Ginger, grated - 50 -70 g
• Carrots (diced) 350 g
• Celery stalks, sliced 100 g
• Peppers green, sliced 300 g
• Garlic, grated 50 g
• Pasta Harissa 20 g
• Muscat (grated) 10 g
• Cinnamon 15g
• Chile, dried 5 g
• Chicken Breast 800 g
• Parsley, chopped 100 g
• Sage, chopped 50 g
• Green lentils 250 Cooking:
Let's start with pasta harissa. This is a spicy sauce based on olive oil. It consists of garlic, cumin, coriander, chili and salt. Therefore, if there is no pasta, then it can be prepared separately, or not cooked - in the recipe of this soup-mashed potatoes and without a paste, spices are enough.
In a skillet, heat the butter and fry the bacon slices until brown, then remove them with a slotted spoon and add onions and ginger. When the onions become transparent, we also add green peppers, carrots, celery and all spices, including Harissa.
Separately, in the pan prepare the chicken broth. When the breast boils, reduce the heat, season the poultry with bay leaf, sage, cinnamon, peppers and parsley. Pour the green lentils into the meat broth and cook for 40 to 45 minutes. Then take out the bay leaf, breast, filter the lentils. Grind lentils with a blender together with browned vegetables. Puree send in broth. We give to boil, then we fill with garlic and pieces of breast, disassembled into fibers.
Served with sour cream or yogurt. Decorate with greens.
Recipe 5. Lentil soup and eggplants in the Greek oven
Composition:
• Olive oil 70 g
• Red vinegar (balsamic) 50-70 g
• Nuts, chopped walnuts 120 g
• Crushed red pepper
• Chopped garlic 40 g
• Bunch of parsley
• Broth 1 l
• Eggplant 300
• Red, fresh pepper 300-350 g
• Boiled lentils 350 g
• Carrot, grated 250 g
• Shredded onions 160 g
• Yoghurt, natural 1/2 cup
• Fresh lemon juice 1 pc.
Cooking:
Preheat oven to 200 ° C. Cover the baking tray with foil and grease it with vegetable oil. Cut the eggplant in half, rub it with balsamic (or wine) vinegar mixed with butter and place on a baking sheet. Put peeled pepper next to the eggplant, after having rubbed it with the same mixture. While the vegetables are baking, we set boil lentils to good softness. Pass carrots, and then onions in a saucepan, set aside. We take out the baked vegetables from the oven, let them cool, and remove the skin. Throw ready lentils through a sieve. In a combine or blender, mix nuts, lemon juice, yogurt, season with vinegar and spices. Here we also place steamed and baked vegetables, along with boiled lentils. You can mix them separately, in several stages, if the volume of the blender bowl does not allow. Puree is sent to a boiled, almost ready soup, once again give to boil and remove from the stove. When serving the cream soup, season with garlic, fresh herbs and yogurt.
Recipe 6. Arab lentil soup puree
Composition:
• Onions, sliced 250-350g
• Sesame oil 50 ml
• Hot pepper, chopped 30 g
• Water 0.8 l
• Lentils 150 g
• Coriander Seeds
• Chile (powder)
• Saffron
• Rice, white 70 g
• Lemon (juice) 100 ml
Cooking:
Boil lentils and rice together, adding spices and salt to taste. Separately stew onions and finely chopped hot peppers. When the lentils and rice are cooked, add the stewed vegetables, let the soup boil and remove from the stove, chop the whole mass with a blender or in a combine. Before serving, season with lemon juice.
Recipe 7. Indian lentil cream soup
Composition:
• Butter, cream, ghee 100 g
• Mustard oil (olive) 60 g
• Onions, diced 75 g
• Garlic, chopped 35 g
• Curry 15g
• Garam Masala 10 g
• Green lentils - 200 g
• Chickpeas (chickpeas) 170 g
• Water 0.9 L
• Green peas 250 g
• Lemon juice 60 ml
Cooking:
Cook the chickpea puree. You must soak the chickpeas in water for at least 12 hours. While mashing puree into the bowl of the combine, enter the juice and a pinch of lemon zest, season with salt and pepper. It is necessary to take into account the salt and spices added during the sautéing of vegetables.
Pass the onion in olive oil until transparent and salt it so that it is steamed. After that, garlic is added and after a minute the browned vegetables fill curry and garam masala. Add green lentils to the skillet and simmer until soft.
Combine mashed chickpea, braised lentils and green peas in a large saucepan, adding water or broth. Bring to a boil and season with greens, lemon juice. If necessary, add spices to adjust the taste.
Recipe 8. Lentil soup with tomato
Composition:
• Oil (vegetable) 30-40 g
• Onions, sliced - 120 g
• Celery (stalks), sliced - 200 g
• Garlic, grated 50-60 g
• Carrots, sliced - 350 g
• Cumin (ground) 10-15 g
• Yellow and red lentils 120 g
• Tomato paste 75 g
• Broth - 750 ml • Water - 0.7 l
• Basil (leaves)
• Sour cream
Garnish: croutons with cheese.
Cooking:
In a saucepan heated to medium temperature, first put the butter and heat it. Add the onions and stew with constant stirring for a couple of minutes, put the carrots and celery over the onions. Season vegetables with spices, pour in the washed and pre-soaked lentils. Spread tomato paste, stir and pour water. When the lentils are soft, add garlic. Top up with water if necessary. The finished soup is poured into the bowl of the combine and grind until smooth. Season with finely chopped basil leaves. Serve with sour cream and cheese croutons.
Recipe 9. Lentil soup with pumpkin
Composition:
• Oil, olive (for browning) 80 ml
• Chopped onion, 150 g
• Potatoes 400 g
• Lentils 170 - 200 g
• Pumpkin puree 300 - 350 g
• Cumin
• Black pepper
• Dried (or fresh) mint
• Lemon juice
• Pomegranate 150 g
• Green onions 150 g
• Water 1.8 l
Cooking:
In a deep saucepan, on medium heat, pass over the vegetables: onion - 5 minutes, add potatoes and lentils at the same time with water and boil it until soft. Season with spices, spread pumpkin puree and tomato paste into the whole mass. Simmer another three minutes and try. Remove from heat and grind to a uniform consistency. When serving, add pomegranate seeds and chopped green onions to the plates.
Recipe 10. Lentil Soup with Chicken Hebrew
Composition:
• Sliced onions 170 g
• Chopped chicken meat, boiled 450-500 g
• Oil 75 ml
• Strong broth (from chicken) 1,6 l
• Lentils 270 g
• Cumin or dill (ground seeds) 25 g
• Steamed rice 100 g
• Sliced parsley (fresh leaves)
• Lemon (slices)
Cooking:
In a large pot send the prepared chicken carcass. Cover it with water. Water is topped up by 250 -350 ml more, taking into account the evaporation of the liquid during cooking. Boil the chicken until ready, seasoned at the end of cooking with spices. Remove the chicken and leave it to cool, then separate the pulp from the bones. Roasted onion to ruddy onion is transferred from a stewpot to a large saucepan with strong chicken broth, along with lentils and rice. Cook on the slowest fire grits, until full boiling, throw the chopped parsley and slices of cooled fillet. Letting the soup boil, remove from heat. Cream soup served with lemon wedges.
Lentil Cream Soup - Tricks and Tips & Tips
• Red lentils have high hardness. Using this variety, before heat treatment, hold the red lentils in water for a couple of hours so that it boils down faster.
• It is better to store lentils in a closed glass container or in tightly closed bags on the bottom shelf of the refrigerator.
• Like all legumes, lentils contain carbohydrates, which, when fermented in the colon, cause flatulence. But in order not to exclude from the diet beans, containing almost the entire complex of minerals and amino acids, as well as valuable vegetable protein, use for the preparation of lentil dishes mint, garlic, ginger, chicken fillet, beets. These and other products neutralize unpleasant bloating. In addition, to eliminate the unpleasant consequences, you can use an uncomplicated method during cooking: bring the water in which the lentils are boiled to a boil, then fold the beans through a colander or sieve and continue cooking, filling them with clean water.
