Description
This recipe for Armenian Lentil Soup is vegan and gluten-free. It’s full of tomatoes, eggplant, apricots, peppers, onions and lentils along with some really fantastic spices like cayenne pepper, cinnamon and cumin.
Ingredients
Scale
- 1 cup dried green lentils (can also use black or red)
- 5 cups chicken or vegetable broth (note it is not longer vegan if you use chicken broth!)
- 1/2 cup chopped dried apricots
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1/2 large onion, diced
- 1 medium eggplant, diced
- 1 (28-ounce) can of diced tomatoes, undrained
- 1 bell pepper (red, green or yellow), diced
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 tablespoon brown sugar, packed
- 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon allspice or ground cloves
- 1/2 teaspoon cumin
- 1 teaspoon turmeric (optional)
- 1/4–1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper, to taste
- 1 teaspoon(ish) kosher salt, to taste
- Chopped parsley, cilantro or mint to garnish
Instructions
- Rinse lentils in a colander and place them in a large soup pot. Add the broth and the apricots and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low, cover and let simmer for 20 minutes.
- While the lentils are simmering, heat olive oil in a large saucepan over medium heat (you need a pretty big pan here). Add the onions and sauté 4-5 minutes, or until the onions are translucent. Add all remaining ingredients except the herbs. Bring to a simmer, cover, and cook for 10 minutes.
- Add the vegetable mixture to the lentils and simmer for another 30 minutes, or until the lentils are tender. Taste for seasoning and adjust as necessary. Note that if the soup becomes too thick during the cooking process you can add more broth as needed.
- Ladle into bowls and serve plain or with chopped parsley, cilantro or mint for garnish. You could also try adding a dollop of Greek yogurt to cool down the spice a bit.
Notes
This recipe is adapted from Epicurious.