Delicious and Nutritious Lentil Soup

Lentil soup has been appreciated over the ages for its taste and health. The lentils contribute plenty of fiber and a robust and hearty texture. Done just right, lentil soup has been known to make people trade their firstborn rights for a bowl of it... This recipe also includes tomatoes, a source of cancer-fighting lycopene, garlic, an ally to strengthen our immune systems, cilantro, an herb that reportedly is used for the detoxification of the body, and a pinch of both black pepper and sambal, a red pepper-based hot sauce. According to David Servan-Schreiber in Anticancer, the combination of turmeric and black pepper is very beneficial and protective against cancer. A dish can have all the healthy ingredients in the world, if it doesn't taste good, we won't eat it. I have had someone who did not like lentils tell me how good this soup was. So give it a try. The main inspiration for the recipe came from the book: Classic Vegetarian Cooking from the Middle East and North Africa, by Habeeb Salloum. It is filled with wonderful-tasting recipes. If you like this recipe (which has a few modifications from Salloum's), you will want to try his book. There are no pictures in the book, though. In this hub you'll be able to follow along step by step in the creation of a flavorful and healthy dish, which also happens to be vegetarian.

one cup brown lentils

four medium tomatoes

10 cloves of garlic

3 tablespoons olive oil

5-6 cilantro sprigs, or 6 culantro leaves (mix in any proportion, chop)

2 teaspoons cumin

1 tsp ground turmeric

1/4 tsp freshly-ground black pepper, or 10 black peppercorns, mashed

1/2 tsp Sambal hot pepper sauce

salt to taste (suggested amount: 1-1.5 tsp)

6 1/2 cups of water

Inspect and wash the lentils, removing any little stones or other impurities.

Peel the garlic and chop it fine with a cleaver, or in a food processor.

Lightly grind the cumin. An inexpensive coffee grinder will do it just fine in a few seconds, and you can reserve it for your spices.

Peel the tomatoes. You can also remove the seeds if you like. I find that peeling the tomatoes gives a more pleasant texture to the final product. If you do remove the seeds from the tomatoes, make sure you recover the juice and add it to the soup.

Process the tomatoes in the food processor for 5 seconds, or chop very fine with the cleaver.

Saute the garlic and the cumin together in the olive oil for 1-2 minutes. You can use butter, or a combination of butter and olive oil instead.

Add the tomatoes, and saute for 3 more minutes.

While the tomatoes are cooking, add salt, turmeric, pepper and sambal. Now add the lentils and water.

Bring to a rolling boil and reduce the heat. Simmer for an hour, uncovered. Make sure it keeps boiling gently. Some of the water will evaporate, that's OK.

Test the lentils, they should be soft, but most of them should still be intact.

Turn the heat off. Stir in the chopped cilantro and/or culantro. Enjoy!