I have made this recipe at least ten times and am finally making a review. I have settled on those small black lentils. You can also use WAY MORE lentils than what is mentioned here. I let them soak for about 4 hours, or overnight, it does not matter. If you do not have crushed tomatoes, tomato sauce works fine. I save money by using dried parsley because it is so expensive to buy it fresh where I live. They make you buy a huge bundle of it. Thanks for the recipe! Also, this is HUGE: It tastes WAY WAY WAY better the 2nd day. If you eat it fresh out of the pan, it is so-so, but if you put it in a big jar and eat it the next day, Mmmmmm.......
This is very yummy. Here's my take on it: I left out the onions (DH is allergic) and substituted red wine for the white. I used a cheap Shiraz wine but as long as you would drink it, it's all good. Just don't use cooking wine...blech. I chose red because white wine is for the lighter "meats" and lentils are the vegeterian equivalent of beef! Now, wine has a tendency to make things seem more salty (chemistry smarties will probably know the reason for this), so for stock, I used Glace de Poulet Gold, which is low-sodium, restaurant-quality, and absolutely ROCKS. (NOTE: I am not in any way affiliated with the brand, nor do I own company stock -- a little pun for you clever types). I kept the spices the same, except at the end I added a dash of red pepper flakes for a little kick, as we're a wild and crazy bunch around here.
Wow was this soup good. I had a tri-color lentil blend and I also added spinach, not only did it taste good it looked great. I will be making this again soon!
My tips: - Lentils aren't usually soaked. You don't need to soak them if you wait to add the tomatoes and wine until after the lentils are cooked soft. (The acid prevents the lentils from softening.) This makes the recipe much easier with no sacrifice in taste. - I used smoked paprika, which gave the taste usually achieved by adding a smoked ham hock but keeps the recipe vegetarian and easy. (Veg broth or water can easily substitute for the chicken broth. I used beef broth myself.) - I used three kinds of lentils, and I don't think it mattered. Use whatever you like or have available. - If you're dieting you could add more carrots and celery. - I agree with the next day comment. Now is day 3 and I think I'll eat some more right now.
I am Hungarian American and this was the best lentil soup I've made. I added chopped ham and that just made the soup even heartier.
Yummy! I didn't pre-soak the lentils 1st (although I rinsed & drained them). Maybe because of this, the soup required about 2 hours of cooking time. The carrots though weren't soft enough after only one hour. You may need more broth or water depending on how thick you like the soup. I may try it with a small can of crushed tomatoes next time.
This recipe made a huge pot of soup-we had plenty for a couple of days and enough to freeze-delicious and easy.
Made this a few nights ago & it was FANTASTIC!! Followed the recipe in all aspects except I used probably double the amount of lentils. But this is just because I like a really thick lentil soup (just the way our German neighbor used to make it). I also added some turkey keilbasa sausage cut up real small wihich I cooked with the vegetables. This is a wonderful soup.
This soup was absolutely wonderful! I added some cooked wild rice to the soup to make it a soup with complete protein and it turned out great. It was absolutely delicious and completely nutritious.
I did not care for this recipe. It's nothing more than a tomato-based vegetable soup with lentils in it.
