Lentil soup has always been a comfort food in my family. My grandma made her own recipe, and a story to go with it. Every time she made soup she told us her story of the lentil.
A long time ago, a woman and her husband lived in a small, broken home. They were very poor, and rarely had enough to feed themselves. One day her husband came home with his friends. He asked his wife to make dinner for everyone there. She knew there was not enough food in their kitchen for everyone to eat, but she still left to find something to do. All she found was an onion, some chicken broth, and some vegetables. There wasn’t enough to feed the guests her husband had brought.
Not knowing what else to do, she put everything she found into a pot and walked outside. She knelt on the ground with her pot and started to pray for God to help her. When she looked up, she saw hundreds of tiny pebbles on the ground in front of her. She had no other option, so she put all the pebbles into her pot and brought it inside to her stove.
When she brought the soup to her guests she was thinking of ways to explain the rocks in the soup, but to her surprise when her husband and his friends served, the rocks had changed into something round and soft, nothing like the pebbles she knew she put in the pot. When one of the guests said it tasted amazing, and asked what was in it, she said the first thing she could think of, that the round food was called “lentil,” and she thanked God for his help.
Ingredients
- 1 pound of lentils sorted and rinsed
- 2 1/2 quarts of water
- 2 Tablespoons of olive oil
- 1 onion, finely chopped
- 4 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 celery stalk, finely chopped
- 1 carrot finely diced
- Coarse sea salt
- Fresh ground black pepper
- Fresh cilantro
Instructions
- In a stock pan over medium heat, add the water and lentils and cook for 20 minutes.
- In a saucepan over medium heat, heat the olive oil and Sauté the onions, garlic and celery until translucent, 5 minutes, then adding the carrot. Keep cooking for 10 more minutes.
- Add the sauteed vegetables to the lentils stock pan and cook, covered, for 15-20 minutes.
- Salt and pepper to taste.
- Add the cilantro and cook, covered, for 5 more minutes. Discard the cilantro.
- Serve and garnish with some fresh cilantro leaves.
