Easy and Quick Vegetable and Orange Lentil Soup

 

I've been craving my homemade vegetable soup for quite a while, and I didn't have much patience to wait. An easy shortcut requires a can of beans, but we didn't have any. then I remembered the orange lentils I had bought. They cook up very quickly.

Ingredients (I don't measure exactly, so there's no need to obsess about exact quantities)

• large onion
• medium squash
• nice sized chunk of sweet potato
• celeriac
• coarse salt, pepper (coarse is best,) parsley-- either fresh or dehydrated
• if you have carrots, add one or more, mushrooms also good, ditto for fresh parsley or celery

Instructions: 

• cut in small chunks or slices
• put all in a large pot
• start sautéing in oil
• add at least a half cup of orange lentils
• boil a couple of liters of water
• add the boiling water and cover
• as soon as the soup begins to boil, turn down the flame to just simmer

Cook until it's all soft, and the lentils are mushy.

Perfectly Filling and Tasty Vegetable Soup

 

I discovered how to make vegetable soups decades ago, and to be perfectly honest now two are ever exactly the same. That's why I'm not very specific about quantities. I don't measure, though I do have a very good eye for quantities. I instantly know how much to put in a pot. You may have to experiment, but on the whole, especially if you're using dried beans, barley, lentils or peas, remember that they swell. So they should only cover the bottom of the pot. 

Ingredients

lentils, pearl barley and split peas
onion
fresh garlic
celeriac 
carrot
squash
coarse salt, coarse black pepper and dehydrated parsley

Instructions

1. Put the lentils, pearl barley and split peas in the pot, and check for small stones or anything that shouldn't be there.
2. Pour boiling water and cover. Wait at least a couple of hours.
3. Cut all the vegetables, and add them to the pot. 
4. Add a couple of spoons of vegetable oil, whichever you like for cooking.
5. Start cooking, and add boiling water, not too close to the top of the pot. Two-thirds full is good, usually.
6. Add the seasoning.
7. Heat to a boil, and then lower flame to simmer. 
8. Simmer for at least an hour.

That's it. Enjoy!

PS You can add other vegetables, seasoning etc.

Easy Filling Vegetable Lentil Soup

Why do I post so many Vegetable Soup recipes/posts?

That's because, they're all a bit different, and I never follow an exact recipe!

Yesterday afternoon, while observing the Tisha B'Av fast, an important event on the Jewish Calendar, I realized that I had better start preparations for my fast-breaking vegetable soup. Since I wanted a nice hearty soup with lentils and brown rice, it needed time.

Ingredients- Quantities aren't holy, just recommendations:
1/3 cup brown rice (I used round brown)
1/3 cup orange lentils
1/3 cup brown lentils
1 large onion, diced
2 medium carrots cut
1 large squash cut
1/2 sweet potato (you can use a whole one) cut
pinch plus of coarse salt
coarse black pepper
1/4 cup dehydrated dill
vegetable oil
boiling water

Step #1
Check the rice and lentils. Add to a large pot, pour in boiling water to cover plus, cover and leave for at least an hour.

Step #2

An hour or more before you want to serve the soup, add the rest of the ingredients. Water should not reach more than a couple of inches from the top of the pot. Bring to a boil, then lower the flame to simmer. Cook covered.

Step #3

Stir periodically. You may have to add a bit more water. Turn off heat when the lentils and rice are nice and soft. Keep covered until serving. Yes, that's it. Very easy and simple to make. You can add other vegetables, seasonings etc. 

Surprisingly Simple Low Carb Vegetable Soup

Today was a fast day according to the Jewish Calendar, the (delayed/postponed*) 17th of Tammuz. As is my custom, I made a vegetable soup for the fast-breaking meal. Personally, I feel better eating soup after a fast. Raw vegetables "burn" my mouth. I eat a few bowls of soup after drinking lots of water. Since the only lentils in the house were these quick-cooking orange lentils, that's what I used. They are perfect for soups, especially when you don't have much time, which was the case today. I slept away too much of the afternoon and started my cooking much later than usual. Orange lentils cook very quickly, barely ten minutes, which was perfect.

Ingredients, sorry but you don't need exact quantities

1/2 cup orange lentils
3 medium carrots
1 large onion
2 small squash (light zucchini)
generous handful of dehydrated dill
a bit of oil, coarse salt and pepper
water

Preparation

1. check lentils for stones, bugs whatever
2. cut onion rather small
3. add onion to pot with lentils and a bit of vegetable oil
4. heat on medium flame for a few minutes
5. add boiling water to cover
6. cover pot and lower flame to simmer
7. cut carrots and squash into bite size pieces
8. add to pot along with the dill, salt and pepper
9. add more water, but not too high in the pot
10. medium flame until boiling, then simmer
11. It should be ready in 15-20 minutes, though you can cook it longer. Just check if the vegetables are soft.

You can add more vegetables and seasoning in you want.

ENJOY!  And tell me how yours came out, how your varied it etcetera.

*The actual date 17th of Tammuz fell on Shabbat when we don't fast, with the exception of Yom Kippur. So the fasting took place on Sunday the 18th of Tammuz

Nothing Better than Vegetable Soup

Yesterday afternoon I made myself a much too full pot of vegetable soup full of brown lentils, onion, carrots, ginger, squash, garlic and finely sliced mushrooms. Yes, that's all the ingredients, plus a bit of oil and water, of course.

Cooking on my new gas stove top is such a pleasure. One advantage is that it heats and cooks so quickly. I no longer have to boil water in the electric kettle for cooking purposes. The old electric hotplate I had been using was so slow, I was always supplementing with the kettle, whether for pasta, soup etc.

To make this soup, I started a few of hours early and put the lentils in the pot, added water to cover, plus, and then boiled it for a few minutes, turned off the flame and covered the covered pot with a towel to keep in the heat.

Then, about an hour or more before I needed to eat the soup, I cut up all the vegetables and added them to the lentils, topping with some cooking oil, and began to cook it all on a high flame. As soon as it began to boil, I added more water until about an inch, 2cm from the top of the pot. Then I had it reach boil again and lowered the flame to simmer. Actually, I moved the pot from the double-flame to a weaker one.

When the soup looked almost cooked, vegetables were soft, I added some coarse salt and coarse pepper. It's better to add less than you think would be good, since people can always add more, but you can't reduce salt and pepper in cooked food. About ten minutes later I turned off the flame and let the food continue cooking on its own. It didn't need more than a total of forty minutes of cooking time.

This, easy to prepare, vegan vegetable soup is a full meal. If you eat dairy, you can put a slice of yellow cheese on the bottom of your bowl before serving for an extra tasty protein treat.

Enjoy!

Low-Tech "Blended" Vegetable Soup

I don't have a stick blender. I did have one many years ago, and since I didn't use it, I passed it on to one of my daughters. She loves it, and I'm pretty sure that by now, that cheap one I got as a bonus, when buying something else, has been replaced at least once.


To be honest, I can't even remember when I last used the potato-masher. It may have been decades ago.

Yesterday's Vegetable Soup was very easy to make. It's my basic one-pot recipe, which I've made before. I don't measure; there's no need to.

Ingredients

• dried peas
• onion
• garlic
• carrot
• squash
• pumpkin
• dehydrated parsley
• whatever vegetable oil you like
• coarse salt and pepper to taste
• boiling water, time-saver rather than tap

Directions

1. Check peas, put in pot, add boiling water to cover plus.
2. Cover and leave for at least an hour.
3. Cut vegetables.
4. Add vegetables and oil to pot.
5. Start cooking on high flame/heat until boiling, then lower to simmer
6. Add more boiling water, no higher than 2", two inches from top of pot. 
7. After half an hour add parsley, salt and pepper. 
8. Cook for at least 10 minutes more. Turn off flame, and let it "sit" for another 10 minutes.
9. Mash optional, and serve.

PS You can always add more vegetables or leave out the pumpkin or squash. And of course you can cook with fresh parsley. I almost added some sweet potato but wanted to cut our the carbohydrates, so added an additional squash. If you want a heartier soup, then add barley or rice to the peas.

This Year's Purim Soups, Yes Two 2

I feel best breaking fasts on vegetable soup. The Jewish Calendar has a number of fasts in the year, and one of them is the day before Purim. My custom is to spend the afternoon making soup. That's what I did yesterday afternoon.

Since I no longer have, nor usually need, a supersized pot, I made two pots of soup. Another reason was that I had lentils and peas I wanted to use up. So instead of mixing them into one soup, I made two different ones.

Lentil-Ginger Soup

The Lentil-Ginger Soup ingredients:

lentils
onion
fresh garlic
carrots
sweetpotato
fresh ginger
parsley root and leaves
a spoon or two of vegetable oil
salt to taste, or a just a bit less

Instructions:

• A few hours before I plan on cooking the soup, I put the checked lentils in a pot and add boiling water to cover and then cover the pot.
• Afterwards I cut all the vegetables, add them, except for the parsley leaves, to the lentils, add the oil and some more boiling water. 
• Cover, start cooking on a high flame, then lower it to simmer for at least 45 minutes.
• Add the parsley and salt.
• Cook a few more minutes, and then let it sit covered.

Enjoy!

Simple Pea and Carrot Soup

The  Simple Pea and Carrot Soup Ingredients:

onion
garlic
carrots
squash
parsley
root and leavesvegetable oil
coarse black pepper and salt "to taste"

Instructions:

• A few hours before I plan on cooking the soup, I put the checked peas in a pot and add boiling water to cover and then cover the pot. 
• Afterwards I cut all the vegetables, add them, except for the parsley leaves, to the lentils, add the oil and some more boiling water. 
•  Cover, start cooking on a high flame, then lower it to simmer for at least 45 minutes. 
• Add the parsley and salt. 
• Cook a few more minutes, and then let it sit covered.

Enjoy!

After sampling both soups, I decided to try them mixed/together. 

I hope my neighbors like the soups they'll be getting for mishloach manot, Purim food gifts as much as I did.

Perfect Vegetable Soup

Yesterday I was home, sort of "chilling," totally relaxing and cooking a bit. It was a Jewish fast day, the 10th of Tevet. Luckily I'm not one of those "taste as I cook" people. I go by "eyeball" and smell. In the morning until early afternoon, besides lounging on the couch all I did was to take about a cup of dried peas, put it in a pot and pour boiling water over them. I covered the pot and let it all "sit." The peas cook best, get nice and mushy when prepared that way. You also need less time on the stove.

Ingredients, plus the peas and
a chunk of pumpkin

About three hours before the end of the fast, I felt energetic enough to start the soup. I took out the ingredients you can see on the right, plus the peas and a nice chunk of raw pumpkin. You can use an acorn squash or something similar if you can't get the pumpkin. I only cook with fresh vegetables.

The quantity I made was good for a pot of about 3-4 quarts or liters. I don't measure. By the time I put in all of the ingredients, the pot was pretty full to make a very nourishing soup. My Vegetable Soup is a meal, since the peas provide protein, and after fasting I can't eat raw vegetables.

Ingredients:
large onion
fresh garlic
mushrooms
carrots
green squash, zucchini would be fine, too
fresh pumpkin
dried peas, lentils can be substituted or combined with the peas
1T vegetable oil of your choice, optional
coarse salt and coarse ground pepper "to taste"
When in doubt under-season, since it's easier for people to add than to get rid of oversalting etc.

Instructions:
pour lentils/peas in the pot and cover-plus with boiling water
cover pot also with a thick towel to keep in the heat
after at least an hour, even 6 or more, add cut vegetables, except for the pumpkin
add the oil
start cooking
add boiling water to about 2 inches, 5cm, from top of pot
when boiling, lower to simmer
add pumpkin, since it cooks much more quickly than the other vegetables
season with salt and pepper
when it looks soft, turn it off and again cover with a towel until serving

Break-Fast Vegetable Mushroom Soup

Here's my latest (made yesterday) version of a very easy and always tasty TNT Vegetable Soup. Since I had a lot of mushrooms in the fridge, they went into the soup. Yesterday was the Jewish fast day of Tzom (The Fast of) Gedaliah. I've made it a custom to break my fasts, whenever possible, on freshly made Vegetable Soups. They hit the spot, absolutely perfect for breaking the fast and any other type of day. I first started the custom when the children were still living at home. So then I'd also make fresh homemade rolls and/or pizza. But at our age, that's just too much food, whether after a fast or any time. I just serve myself a few bowls of soup. My husband gets a bit more of a meal.

Stage one:
Pour about a cup of dried *peas in large pot and check them for stones, etc.
Boil water and pour over peas. Cover the pot and let it wait for an hour or more.
*Instead of peas, you can use any lentils and/or barley. If you want to use beans, then start earlier, because you will have to cook the beans, depending on the type, for well over an hour, besides the soaking.

Stage two:
About an hour and a half or more before planned serving time, take the pot to the stove and start cooking the peas. Lower flame/heat to simmer as soon as it begins to boil. Make sure you have enough water, so that it doesn't burn, since the peas absorb the water.

Stage three:

Take out the vegetables you want in the soup. Besides an onion and fresh garlic, this time I used a squash, carrots and mushrooms. You can cook different vegetables, such as sweet potato, pumpkin, potato, cauliflower, zucchini, etc. If you want dark green or leafy vegetables, like broccoli, cabbage or spinach, save to add just before soup is fully cooked.
You may certainly add greens like parsley, celery, etc.
Cut/slice the vegetables into bite-sized pieces either by hand or food-processor and add them to the boiling peas/lentils/beans. Boil up water and add to the cooking soup to cover, plus. Simmer after it reaches boil.
Exact quantities depend on your pot and how thick/rich you want your soup. 
When the vegetables are soft, add salt and pepper to taste. After another few minutes, turn off the flame. The soup will finish cooking on its own. You can cover the pot with a thick towel to keep it hot if you won't be serving it for more than an hour.

If other things are cooking on the stove, then remove the pot to a heat-resistant surface to prevent the towel catching on fire.

Your soup is now ready to eat. Enjoy!

Vegetable Mushroom Soup

"Sweet" Vegetable Soup, Kosher for Passover and Good All Year

Generally my Vegetable Soups are based on some sort of legume, which I don't eat on the Passover Holiday, but this soup is different. I made it to go with the Vegan aka "Eggless" Matzah Balls, Kneidlach.

As you can see from the photo above, these are the ingredients, cut in bite-size chunks:

onion
carrot
mushroom
parsley root
sweet potato
fresh parsley

I sauteed them in olive oil and then added water, covered of course, to boil and then simmer after adding the matzah balls.

The sweet potatoes and mushroom added the flavor and richness to substitute for my usual peas or lentils. As it cooked the aroma was sweet. This is definitely a filling and festive soup, but so easy to make.

My Vegetable Soup, Always Perfect and Easy to Make

Above you can see my second giant bowl of vegetable soup,lentil to be exact. Yesterday was a traditional Jewish fast day, Tisha B'Av. After twenty-five hours without eating or drinking, it's really important to have something nourishing and easy to digest. For me that's Vegetable Soup. It doesn't matter which vegetables I include or the exact quantities, it always tastes good. That's one of the beauties of Vegetable Soup.

Years ago, I made it richer and heartier with carbohydrates like barley, wheat and rice. But as the house emptied and my weight increased, I found it necessary to tweak the recipe a bit. This is what I made:

Ingredients:
brown lentils
onion
carrots
squash
garlic
oil
salt, pepper and some parsley flakes
lots of water- I add boiling water to cut down on cooking time.

Instructions:

• check the lentils for rocks, bugs etc
• pour boiling water over it, to cover plus, and cover pot
• leave for at least half an hour
• add the onions, squash, carrots, garlic and oil (better less than more)
• add more boiling water, at least a few inches higher than the veggies
• cook on high flame until boiling, then simmer on low flame for between 40-60 minutes
• towards the end of cooking time add the salt, pepper and parsley
• always cook in covered pot
• turn off flame and leave in pot for at least 15 minutes before serving

Variations:

• replace carrots with mushrooms, or just add mushrooms to the classic recipe
• ditto with cauliflower, but since the cauliflower cooks more quickly, add later during the cooking
• substitute barley or peas for the lentils

Let me know how you've made the soup. Thanks.

Chickpea Mushroom Vegetable Soup

Yes, it tastes as good as it looks!

Like many Jewish housewives, this is the season to try to use up what has been hiding in the pantry before the Passover Holiday. I'm not quite sure when I bought a package of chickpeas, but it was certainly many months ago, most probably in the summer or even the spring. That's because I found it unopened in the fridge. If it had been bought in the fall or winter, it would have been in the closet.

Beans can keep for years. Just look at the expiration date on the packages, but like many Jewish housewives I like to get the house as empty of food as possible before Pesach.

Usually I make my vegetable soups with quicker and easier to cook lentils, split peas etc, not beans or chickpeas which need more soaking and cooking. But Saturday night when I realized that I'd be home most of Sunday and Monday, I began preparing the chickpeas for a soup.

1. I checked for bugs and stones first; all was clear. Then before going to bed I left them soaking in water. In the morning, I spilled out the water, added more and boiled them. Then I let them simmer and then they sat in the hot water. I ate one to see if they were sufficiently soft, and they were chewy enough. 
2. Time for the cut vegetables:

• onions
• garlic
• carrots
• squash
• mushrooms
• a couple of spoons (I never measure) of vegetable oil
• salt, pepper and parsley

    3. Saute the vegetables in a covered pan on a low flame until they begin to soften.

    4. Add the chickpeas, including the water, and even add more water--boiling water for faster cooking. 

    5. After half hour or more, when it all seems cooked, but not overcooked, add the salt, pepper and parsley. Cook another few minutes, turn off heat and leave it for at least ten minutes before serving.

EXACT MEASUREMENTS ARE NOT IMPORTANT!!

Enjoy! I'd like to know how it came out if you try the recipe.

The Winds Whistle and The Soup's Cooking

Even though my house is pretty well insulated, double walls and double windows, I can still feel that it's cold and windy outside.  And yes, cold enough for the hail and sleet to stick a bit, even a couple of hours later when I took a walk.  A rare move for me, I even took the forecasts seriously and didn't travel in to Jerusalem for my Bible classes in Matan.  I guess it was a smart move, because the second class was canceled, when the Jerusalem Municipality announced that schools were closing early.  And bus service was very irregular.

PM at Israel Police traffic control center 
Photo: GPO / Kobi Gideon

Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu made a very public inspection of "headquarters," since he's running for office.

Almost everyone will agree that the best food on a cold, windy day is hot soup, so I made yet another version of vegetable soup.  And  I found just the right movie to watch when cooking, Julia and Julie.  But please don't expect this recipe to be anything French or fancy!  It's a new version of my "Two Pot Vegetable Soup."

Ingredients

• a cup brown lentils
• large onion in small pieces
• a few carrots, cut
• garlic
• tomato concentrate/past
• oil
• cabbage, cut
• water

Instructions, by Illustrations

Let the lentils soak in boiling water, covered, before cooking.  Then boil them, and it won't take long.

Saute onions, carrots and garlic in oil.

Add some tomato concentrate/paste

Then add the cooked lentils to the vegetables along with boiling water.

Add the cabbage, more boiling water if needed, plus your salt and pepper

Let it all cook on a low flame for about half an hour.

Delicious!