Sup soup?! This healthy soup is cooked throughout the Middle East and is super simple to make, filling and flavourful! I had a bowl of lentil soup in a Syrian restaurant this past weekend whilst visiting the Souk in Qatar with friends. It blew my mind, so here I have tried to emulate that experience. I have cooked a few variations of this soup and I believe that this one is a winner.

Previously I have made this soup with red lentils. I find the yellow more delicate and subtle in flavour.

Most of these staple ingredients you are most likely to have on hand…and this soup really cooks itself!

YOU WILL NEED:

Organic extra virgin olive oil
1 red onion diced
1 clove garlic chopped finely
1 & 1/2 cups yellow lentils
4 cups organic vegetable stock
4 cups filtered water
1 tsp turmeric
1 & 1/2 tsp ground cumin
handful chopped parsley
1/2 lemon juice
himalayan sea salt
cracked black pepper
pinch sumac

Method:

Fry onion in the evoo in a heavy based pan on a moderate heat for a few minutes. Add the garlic and ground spices, turmeric and cumin. Add a pinch of himalayan sea salt and a grinding of cracked black pepper. Fry until fragrant.

Stir in the lentils to coat, add the stock and the water and cook on a medium heat for 45mins. Continue to stir during cooking to prevent the lentils from sticking.

Add the chopped parsley and the juice from the 1/2 lemon.

Allow to cool slightly. Blitz in batches in the blender until smooth.

Serve with a sprinkle of sumac, additional parsley and wedges of lemon.

Bil hana! x (Bon-appetite)