Red Lentil and Turmeric Soup
Founder / Chef / Everyone’s Best Friend
Andy Hay
Welcome to my kitchen. I hope to inspire you to grow as a home cook!
If you’re looking for an easy meal to help get your gut health back in shape, this Red Lentil and Turmeric Soup might be it. Packed with warm, smoky spices, soft wilted greens and tender veggies. I might be making this one all year round.
Red Lentil and Turmeric Soup – Building a base.
I’m going to sound like a broken record here, but to make a good soup you have to have a solid base.
Building a base of flavour means you give your dish every opportunity to taste amazing.
We want to see colour on those onions and garlic (not burnt), we want those spices to bloom and develop.
Adding ginger to the pot and cooking it out, you get a rounder ginger that goes so well with sweet potato and cumin.
If you added the spices into a large pot of liquid, they wouldn’t be as distinct, strong and flavourful.
Red Lentil and Turmeric Soup – More Turmeric.
A lot of you most likely have a jar of turmeric in your cupboard, but don’t know what to do with it.
It stains your fingers bright yellow (not to mention your tupperware) and has a unique flavour profile.
What you might not know is the insane health benefits it has as an ingredient. Many people believe it has great anti- inflammatory side effects, while others say it’s great for liver health.
Regardless of what it does for us, it is a great way to add deep colour and a mild earthy- sweetness to any dish.
Cooking with lentils.
I love cooking with lentils. I always seem to have a massive jar of them laying around at all times, and for good reason.
They are a fantastic addition to a ton of soups and stews. Best part is how easy they are to cook.
Think of lentils kind of like pasta. They don’t need an exact amount of water to be absorbed like rice. The best way to cook a lentil is to boil it in a large pot of water (or soup) until tender.
When we cook our lentils in the soup, they absorb all of that flavour and spice, giving you a more flavourful and undiluted dish!
Other recipes to check out!
If you liked the sound of this meal, here are a few other recipes to check out!
Ingredients:
- 2 Yellow Onions diced
- 2 Garlic Cloves minced
- 2 inch Ginger minced
- 2 Carrots peeled and diced
- 3 Celery Stalks diced
- 1 Sweet Potato diced
- 2 tsp Cumin
- 1 1/2 tbsp Turmeric
- 2 tsp Smoked Paprika
- 1 1/2 tsp Kosher Salt
- 1 tsp Black Pepper
- 1 tbsp Tomato Paste
- 4 cups Veggie Stock
- 2 cups Water
- 1 cup Dried Red Lentils
- 2 cups Kale chopped
- 1 cups Diced Tomato
- 1/2 Lemon
Instructions:
- Into a pot set over medium heat, add in 2 tbsp of olive oil. Once heated add in 2 diced onions, 2 minced garlic cloves and 2 inches of minced ginger. Allow your aromatics to cook down for about 2 min.
- Next we want to add in 2 diced carrot, 3 diced celery stalks and 1 diced sweet potato. Mix well.
- Add in 2 tsp of cumin, 1 ½ tbsp of turmeric, 2 tsp of smoked paprika, 1 1/2 tsp of kosher salt and 1 tsp of black pepper. Give that a mix and allow your spices to bloom. Cook for 2-3 min.
- Next add 1 tbsp of tomato paste along with 4 cups of veggie stock and 2 cups of water. Give that a good mix. Add in 1 cup of red lentils. Let that bubble away for 15 – 20 min or until your lentils are soft.
- Once your lentils are cooked, add in about 2 cups of shredded kale, 1 cup of diced tomatoes and about ½ a lemon juiced. Give that a stir and season with kosher salt and black pepper.
Andy Hay
Andy is the founder of ECK, Chef, and let’s admit it… the reason you’re here. He taught himself to cook, and it all paid off when he secured his spot in the season 5 Finale of Master Chef Canada. Now, Andy uses his big energy to showcase recipes that actually make people want to cook. His brand was built on butter and East Coast charm, and Andy’s kept that same energy ever since. Off-camera, you’ll find him doing what started it all: cooking for his two daughters, wife and the people he loves.
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Andy – I started my soup with a similar red lentil recipe. I let it cool overnight and was totally underwhelmed next day. I hate wasting food and effort so on a whim I googled to see if YOU had a red lentil soup recipe. While similar, your’s has more aromatics and a way different (more!) spice ratio. I sautéed additional onions so I could bloom the additional spice before adding to my soup and let it simmer a bit longer. WHOA! – world of difference! So delicious. That little bit of lemon at the end makes it sing. Thanks for saving my soup! Will make this one again and again. 💕
So lovely to hear, Janice! Thanks for sharing!
I made a mistake and added a box of beef broth instead of veggie broth… but it still tasted great! Even better the next day. I will be making this again for sure 😊😋
Sounds like a great, mistake to me, Janice! Glad it worked out!
This soup is yummy ! I have served it twice at large gatherings (70+people) and everyone raved about it and asked for the recipe ! I did sub spinach for kale and garam masala for the tumric as suggested by an earlier commenter . ! 😉
Sounds perfect, Rita! Really happy to hear you enjoyed this dish so much!
This soup is delicious. It is flavourful and easy to make.
Thanks so much, Jo-Anne!
This soup has become a weekday staple of mine. I’ve been out of tomatoes and made it with a can of diced tomatoes and left oat the two cups of water. It was also good 😊
Great way to make it your own, Lisa! Glad you enjoyed it so much!