Rich, warm, and so delicious you’ll be fighting for seconds
I don’t care! Take me to the recipe!
Winter is firmly here now, at least according to the calendar, so we’re dreaming of soups. Maybe not a super hearty soup though, since the weather is all over the place? Fortunately, we have this Moroccan-inspired lentil & quinoa soup to hit the spot.
Ingredients:
1 yellow onion
2 Tbsp roasted garlic paste
3 carrots
6 Tbsp unsalted butter
2 ½ tsp sweet basil
1 tsp cumin
3 plum tomatoes
1 ¾ cup dried brown lentils
½ cup tri colored quinoa (or just straight quinoa, but this adds flavor)
3 cloves of garlic
½ cup full fat plain Greek yogurt
Tools:
Food processor
Chef’s knife
Cutting board
6-quart pot
-Grab your onion and chop it into rough dice. Pop that into your food processor and give it a few pulses, until the pieces are roughly the size of your pinkie nail.
-Set your stove to medium heat, put in 4 Tbsp of butter and allow that to melt. Once that’s done, toss in 2 Tbsp of roasted garlic paste (an example is Better Than Bullion) allow that to melt and disperse into the butter. Once that’s done, add your onion and allow that to begin cooking. You’re not looking for them just to turn transparent, you want them to actually soften during this process so that the flavor isn’t overwhelming later.
-While your onion is cooking, grab your carrots and chop them up into large rounds, then toss them into the food processor. You want your carrot to be the same size as your onion, roughly. When that’s done, scrape the carrots into the pot, give it a few cracks of pepper, and a ¼ cup of water.
-Mix together your sweet basil and cumin and stir into the pot.
- Back to the chopping block, grab your plum tomatoes and slice them into (roughly) 8 pieces. Toss them straight into the pot and stir occasionally as things cook for the next 5 minutes. You’re looking for the tomatoes to being to lose their shape, and for the carrots and onions to soften.
-Add 7 cups of water to the pot, along with your lentils, quinoa, and a few cracks of pepper and 1 tsp of salt. Add a lid to the pot and let it come up to a boil. Once that’s done, uncover the pot and turn down the heat until it’s just at a gentle simmer.
- Allow the pot to continue simmering until the lentils are tender, roughly 25 minutes, although it might be longer.
- After roughly 15 minutes have passed, grab your garlic and mince it. Put that into a fresh frying pan with 2 Tbsp of butter on medium heat. Stir the mixture constantly. You want the outside of the garlic to begin to blacken, without it actually smelling or tasting burnt. It’s a really fine line, and we understand if you want to stop just when the garlic gets to a nice golden brown. At this point you can also add in a little bit of red pepper flakes, more sweet basil or white pepper. When the garlic is at your preferred stage of ‘done’, pull it from the heat and set it to the side. You don’t want it to continue cooking.
-Once your lentils are soft, turn off the heat and dish up the soup. Add a dollop of Greek yogurt to each dish and some of the garlic butter on top. Mix everything together and enjoy for a delicious meal.
-Even with the garlic paste added, it doesn’t have a ton of depth or texture, until you add in the yogurt and garlic and mix it all together. It’s when all the pieces are together that you get the magic.
What did you think? Do you have a way to make the recipe even better? Did your family love it? (Ours did, we were shocked!) Did they hate it? (We’ve all got recipes like that.) Let us know over on our Facebook page, as always, we love to hear from you about how your adventures in the kitchen turn out.
If you’re wondering what an appliance repair company is doing talking about soups and recipes, don’t worry, you didn’t land on an alternate blog. Appliance Rescue Service is still here to fix your appliances and make them as good as new. Whether it’s your dishwasher or your dryer, your stove or your ice maker, we’re here to help. Just give us a call at ((214) 599-0055) or set up an appointment on our page, and we’ll work with you to get your home running again.
Additional Reading:
Broccoli & Cauliflower Soup - If you need something a little heartier, this is just as easy to make, and just as delicious.