Vegan Red Lentil Soup

I don’t know what to write. I’ve got a little out of the habit, and yet I made myself some soup today, so I ought to write something about it. That it’s vegetarian, for example. Or vegan. Meanwhile, I haven’t the faintest idea how to begin. I haven’t written here for a long time and I’m a bit out of practice.

Perhaps I’ll write about what I ate yesterday? Because, as I’ve already said, I made this soup today. Just for a change. Simple, but certainly filling and warming, although it’s fairly warm at home and outside it hasn’t been looking particularly wintry either.

The winter school holidays have started, and when I was wondering what to do with Ninka in the second week, my first idea was to stay in Poland. Luckily, since Ninka finally wants to start skiing, we chose Italy. Although, looking at the weather forecasts, even there snow might be in short supply… We’ll see.

Back to yesterday’s food: I ate heaven. Real heaven. Heaven on a plate, of course 🙂 We went to a place in Powiśle called “A nuż widelec” and ordered saddle of lamb. It turned out, however, that the kitchen only had 1.5 portions of lamb left, so they offered to replace the second dish. We chose the recommended duck breast, but to avoid deciding which of us would give up the lamb (I don’t know how to inflect the Polish word “comber” 😉 we asked for a mix of duck and lamb. Everything was served in such a wonderful combination that I was floored. Truly bowled over, and I can wholeheartedly recommend the place. A big, solid five 🙂

Back to the soup: unfortunately, it’s based on stock cubes, but I couldn’t be bothered to make a proper stock — and didn’t have the ingredients anyway. It turned out well, with lentils and rice, so very filling. Highly recommended.

PS

Despite the long break, my photos still turn out just as… perfectly bad 😉

At a glance:

Preparation time: 45 minutes

Serves: 4 people

How many calories: no chance of calories here

Ingredients for a slightly spicy veggie soup:

• half a celeriac
• 1 medium carrot
• a piece of leek
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 2 shallots
• 1 parsley root
• 4 Brussels sprouts
• 2 vegetable stock cubes
• 6 tablespoons of red lentils
• 2 bay leaves
• a few sprigs of coriander
• a few sprigs of parsley
• a few mixed peppercorns
• coarsely ground dried chilli
• salt
• rice

How to make red lentil soup:

I brought water to the boil in a saucepan and added 2 vegetable stock cubes (I used the well-known brand beginning with K). I added the peeled celeriac, washed leek, peeled parsley root and carrot, garlic, shallots and Brussels sprouts. Finally, I added fresh parsley and coriander leaves. In went two bay leaves and a few black peppercorns, then a little salt and some dried ground chilli. That’s what makes the soup spicy, so add as much as suits your taste.

I cooked it for about 25 minutes. Then I added 6 tablespoons of red lentils and cooked for another 20 minutes. At the end, I added a little cooked rice. I served myself straight after cooking 🙂 The dish — vegan lentil soup — is ready. Enjoy!