I’ve once again made some lentil soup – one of my favourites. I came across a recipe on YouTube over a year ago and have been following it ever since. I actually went ahead and made my own Youtube video about it! 

This time around, I wanted to add another dimension to it – adding chick peas.

Here are the main ingredients:

• 1 ½ cups of lentils
• 900ml carton of vegetable or chicken broth
• 1 cup of water
• 1 large red onion
• 1 can (14oz) of diced tomatoes (or 2 large diced tomatoes)
• Fresh thyme, to taste
• 1 scotch bonnet pepper, if you can handle it
• 3 inches of fresh ginger, chopped
• 2 tablespoons and a dash of olive oil
• 1 can of chick peas
• 3 teaspoons of curry powder
• 1 teaspoon of cumin seeds
• 1 teaspoon of turmeric
• 1 teaspoon of coriander
• Black pepper, to taste

I started off this cooking by working on the chickpeas. I gave them a good wash, making sure the water was clear by the end. I dried them off, threw in a dash or two of olive oil, then sprinkled them with curry powder.

The oven was already preheated at 400 degrees, to get a good roast going. I put the chickpeas on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. Before I popped them in, I gave them a little drizzle of olive oil. They cooked for about 20 minutes, and the finished result looked like this:

BTW, eating roasted chickpeas alone is a great snack alternative to chips or other greasy goodies!

Look at all the pretty colours! Don’t forget the ginger and peppers!

Now on to the rest! I put the olive oil in my pot, heating it on high for about a minute. I dumped the cumin seeds and stirred them around for just over a minute, giving them enough time to open up. I added the onions, stirred them around and waited for them to get a bit translucent. The turmeric and coriander were added at this point. About 30 seconds later, I added the ginger and scotch bonnet pepper. After another 30 seconds, I added the tomatoes. I gave it a strong stir.

Within the next 45 seconds or so, I added in the lentils and gave another strong stir. Now it was time to add the broth and guess what I did next? I gave it yet another strong stir. I let it come to a boil, then I turned down the stove to a 3 to let my concoction simmer. With the lid partially on the pot, I gave it 15 minutes on the timer.

When the timer went off, I checked to see how things were going. At this point, I added about a cup’s worth of water. I gave it a stir and let it sit for another 15 minutes on 3. After all that, I added the fresh thyme I got from my mommy. I turned the heat off and pureed the soup with my immersion blender until it got to a fluffy, creamy-looking appearance.

I gave the soup a chance to cool, as I was going to freeze the soup in individual glass containers.

File photo of how I distribute my lentil soup

After I ladled them up, I distributed the chickpeas to each bowl, probably dropping about 20 peas to each bowl. But I was ready to eat right away and this it what it looked like:

YUMMY!

I recommend this recipe for everyone! The iron from the lentils, the fibre from the chickpeas, the taste of everything else makes this recipe a winner! Also, it’s a pretty affordable meal – I’d say all these ingredients cost me less than $15 and I got 8 bowls out of it.

Update as of January 29th, 2014: After watching the Grammys this past weekend, I’ve adopted a new diet guideline that I’ve dubbed a “Would Beyoncé Eat It?” I’m pretty sure this healthy meal would be Beyoncé-approved!