Nile River Red Lentil Soup

Have you ever made African-inspired food? I have never made it before and I haven't even eaten Ethiopian food yet. But, I was jealous of all those people who have eaten it and fell in love.

I have made only three soups before and the first (Creamy Potato Asparagus soup) was a throw away recipe. The second was a Creamy Garlic, Potato, Celery soup which was really great. But even that can't compare with the soup I made for dinner.

I got this recipe from www.ivu.org (International Vegetarian Union). It is called Nile River Red Lentil Soup (recipe follows pictures)


This is while it was simmering. Looks interesting, huh?




And after it's all done and blended in the food processor it looked like this:




Nile River Red Lentil Soup:

Ingredients:

1 T. olive oil
1 onion, finely chopped
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup red lentils, rinsed
2 t. ground ginger
2 t. ground cumin
2 t. ground coriander
4 cups vegetable stock or water
2 slices lemon, about 1/4 inch thick each
1 medium tomato, chopped
1/2 t. cayenne pepper
salt and pepper to taste
small handful cilantro

Preparation:

-Heat oil in medium stockpot on medium high heat
-Saute onion and garlic until softened
-Stir in lentils, ginger, cumin and coriander and mix well with onion-garlic
-Add lemon slices, veggie stock, tomatoes, cayenne, salt and pepper
-Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low, cover pot and simmer for 35-45 minutes
-Take the pot off heat, discard lemon slices, and let cool for a while
-Puree soup in blender or food processor with cilantro, reserving some cilantro for garnish
-Serve in bowls with extra cilantro and extra cayenne or paprika, if desired

I didn't have injera so I ate this soup with pita bread instead.

Please, MAKE THIS MAKE THIS MAKE THIS!! It's so good!!