Recently I have been enjoying exploring lentils though up until now I have only been using the green du puy lentils. There are many different types of lentils and I wanted to branch out and try a new one. When I was out shopping the bright red lentils caught my attention and I picked some of them up. Despite the fact that we have had a few warm days the weather has gotten cooler again and I was in the mood for a soup. While searching for recipes I came across a few for curried red lentil and chickpea soups that sounded good. Using those two main ingredients as the base for my soup I proceeded to add my favorite soup vegetables; onions, carrots and celery. Next I added some diced tomatoes to add more body and red to the soup. I thought that I was pretty much done but then as I was pulling out the lentils I noticed the quinoa in my cupboard and I recalled that it had worked well in several soups that I had made before and I decided to throw some in as well. I had ended up with a recipe for a nice and healthy sounding soup that also promised to taste great.
Red lentils cook pretty quickly and I only needed to simmer them in the soup for as long as I would have simmered the soup to allow for enough time for the flavours to mingle anyways. The curried red lentil soup with chickpeas and quinoa was nice and easy to make and it did not take long. This soup could easily be made on a week night. I really enjoyed the combination of the red lentils, chickpeas and quinoa and the textures that they added to the soup. The soup was nice and thick and hearty and yet somehow light at the same time. With the curry powder in it the soup was nice and aromatic and it tasted great. I wanted a bit more heat in the soup so I added some chili sauce though you could easily omit it or reduce it or even increase it depending on your tastes. I garnish the soup with some fresh chopped cilantro and a dollop of thick and creamy strained (or Greek style) yogurt.
Curried Red Lentil Soup with Chickpeas and Quinoa
A healthy and hearty lentil, chickpea and quinoa soup seasoned with curry flavours.
ingredients
- 1 tablespoon oil
- 1 onion, diced
- 2 carrots, diced
- 2 stalks celery, diced
- 1 tablespoon garlic, chopped
- 1 tablespoon ginger, chopped
- 1 tablespoon curry powder (or 1 tablespoon garam masala + 1 teaspoon turmeric)
- 1 cup dry red lentils
- 1/3 cup quinoa
- 4 cups chicken broth (or vegetable broth)
- 1 (28 ounce) can diced tomatoes
- 1 (14.5 ounce) can chickpeas, rinsed and drained
- 1 tablespoon chili sauce (such as sambal oelek) (or to taste)
- 2 tablespoons cilantro, chopped
- salt and pepper to taste
directions
- Heat the oil in a pan over medium heat, add the onions, carrots, and celery, and cook until tender, about 10-15 minutes.
- Add the garlic, ginger, and curry powder, and cook until fragrant, about a minute.
- Add the lentils, quinoa, broth, tomatoes, chickpeas, and chili sauce, bring to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer until the lentils and quinoa are tender, about 10-15 minutes.
- Add the cilantro and season with salt and pepper to taste.
Sembra buona…
Yum! I love lentils of all kinds. I’ve been on a curried lentil salad kick lately:
http://danamccauley.wordpress.com/2009/04/29/lentils-for-lunch/
In fact, I’m having it for lunch again tomorrow!
Kevin, the color of your soup took my breath away. I’ll have to pay more attention to lentils.
love the chickpeas in there!
Luv the deep orange hue. Looks super delicious!
I am always looking for new ways to cook lentils and chickpeas! Now this is killing two birds with one stone!
I was just wondering what to do with the rest of the quinoa in my pantry. This sounds like a plan.
Congratulations Kevin!
I love lentil soup. I’ll have to try your recipe for a change.
I will be posting a new lentil recipe that I tried this week soon.
This one will be my husband’s choice. Thanks for the recipe, Kevin!
Anyway, long time I didn’t visit your blog. How are you?
I love the color and it looks very flavorful…
A full bowl of Nutrition there !!
A beautiful soup! Really appetizing!
Cheers,
Rosa
Beautiful colors!!! Are you still having cold weather?
MMMMMM…I love an excellent lentil soup!!
I love that you have added quinoa, an excellent & healthy grain to the soup! Lovely flavours, Kevin!!
Recently I made your cardamom & mango jam & the taste was exquisit! So, thank you a lot!!
I love lentils and love using the tiny red lentils to make a wonderful, tangy, spicy dal, which does end up rather like a thick soup. Your soup looks especially luscious!
I just cooked quinoa for the first time (I know I am late for this grain!) and now this soup is next. Looks wonderful.
congrats of being asked to guest post1 that must be quite the honour 🙂
This soup looks amazing, I love anything with quinoa in it, and I’m on a soup streak, so I’ll be trying this 🙂
Red lentils always taste good. What a lovely color Kevin!
You would be an awesome guest post-er! Love the lentil soup, it’s such a great color.
Looks great Kevin, I will check out that site too!
Yummy!! This has all of my favorite things in it!
mmm i just bought lentils , have never used them, but this makes me want to give them a whirl 🙂 Beautiful dish!!
the color on this is so lively! I don’t use lentils much…the flavors you blended may compliment them in a way that would make me want to pair them together.
I love curry, quinoa, and chickpeas. I think that’s a sign that I definitely have to try your soup. It looks wonderful!
http://www.cookincanuck.com
This is a perfect recipe. I will be trying this for sure. I can never get enough chickpeas, and pairing the lentils and chickpeas with quinoa makes this one powerful healthy soup. Gorgeous image too.
What a lovely soup, it’s so pretty and looks really tasty and healthy! We always have lentils and chickpeas in our panty.
this dish is great!!
The colors look just great.
Very nice recipe Kevin! I love all lentil soups and this one looks very interesting 🙂
Margot
This looks so beautiful! I have been wanting to make a soup with chickpeas!
Yum, another one for the bookmark folder! 🙂
This soup looks delicious, like a mealin itself.
I’ve been wanting to cook something with quinoa forever – this soup looks awesome
love the curly q’s of quinoa in this soup 🙂
Looks gorgeous Kevin, I’m on my way over to Zesty Cook!
Quinoa and Chickpeas are two of my favourite ingredients, so of course this recipe sounds amazing!
Thanks for sharing another great recipe! You rock!
I made this last night, as I happened to have everything on hand. It is delicious! I made it exactly as written, but used sriracha (1 scant teaspoon) for the chile sauce. My family (lovely wife and two teenage boys) went nuts. Thanks for a very good recipe Kevin!
Sounds good, I’m headed over!
You’re always welcome. We can set an extra plate anytime!
Truly humble, healthy and delicious!
You had me at yellow with this! Amazing.
Made this last night and it was fabulous! The only change I made was using chili powder since I didn’t have chili powder! Thanks for the recipe!!
One of the best soups I have made. I substitute the Quinoa with bulgar worked excellent.
that's exactly what i felt like today! except i made mine a bit differently and with crispy friend potatoes:
http://cheesy-mash.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/warming-lentil-soup-with-crispy-fried.html
zx
Kevin ~ what's your opinion on green/yellow/red/brown lentils ? I know some authentic recipes are specific as to which you use. Do you think it really matters ?
Moira: I like to try to use the lentils that the recipe calls for but if I ran out or if I wanted to try something new then I would have no problem substituting another lentil in.
What a delightful looking soup. And so healthy. Thanks for this.
Hello Kevin, I tried to cook your soup and make it look like yours. Mine looks brown, but tasted very good. I posted on my blog and I tagged you. I really love your dishes. Thank you. Susana @ Delicioso y Divertido.
Hey Kevin, the link to Zesty Cook is broken, looks like the site no longer exists. This soup looks wonderful, will you post the recipe on your blog?
Dianne Beaver: The recipe is up! Thanks for letting me know that it was down on Zesty Cook!
Very good! I might use fewer tomatoes next time, but otherwise perfect balance! I ended up adding a fourth cup of broth because it was positively loaded with good stuff. I can't believe how quick it was! Monday night after homework and after school activities with the kids, I was hesitant to try it. This will for sure be in our regular rotation.
This is delicious! I added dry quinoa though and just added more broth to make it one pot meal. I also upped the ginger to more like 2-3 tbsp.
I love this one! Have made it quite a few times!
Chota bheem: I'm glad you like it!
A cup of cooked quinoa, or a cup of raw quinoa, cooked?
Lisa: The recipe calls for cooked but you could use 1/3 cup raw and simmer until cooked, possibly adding extra broth.
This was absolutely delicious, making a double batch next time!
Its that time of year for soup – and finding this recipe hits the spot – just wondering if rice could be used instead of quinoa. Love your recipes…
Germaine
Yes you can! I would add the rice and chickpeas at the same time as the lentils as the rice will cook in about the same amount of time as the lentils. Enjoy!
I just made it and it’s hearty and delicious. Instead of using chili sauce I used 1 1/2 tablespoons of Thai red curry paste and the flavor was excellent. Yet again another great recipe from you.
This recipe really appealed to me b/c we are currently living in our Airstream and I had most of the ingredients on hand (nice there weren’t a ton of different seasonings). I did not cook my quinoa ahead (trying to be mindful of how many dishes I dirty), so added 1/4 cup of uncooked quinoa about 5 minutes before adding the lentils. The other thing I added was some cut up organic chicken sausage (four total). This turned out great, and lots of leftovers!!