Vegan Moroccan Lentil Soup

This is one of my favorite soups to make. Apart from being fresh, healthy (and delicious!) it freezes well and is perfect to bring for lunch. I started making this several years ago and compiled the ingredients from a multitude of recipes. I don’t measure when I make it, but tried to come up with some basic values. 

Please adjust to taste : )

Ingredients
Olive oil
2 onions, diced 
2 bell pepper, diced 
2 stalks celery, diced 
4 cloves garlic 
2 tomatoes, diced 
1 can crushed tomatoes w/juice 
Red lentils 
1 can tomato juice (I use V8) 
Water to cover (you can also use chicken or vegetable stock) 

1 bay leaf 
1 bunch cilantro 
1/3 bunch parsley 
 
3 tsp each ground cumin & coriander 
2 tsp turmeric 
1 tsp paprika 
Pinch cinnamon & allspice
Salt & black pepper to taste 
1 lemon, juiced & zested
1 Tbl fresh grated ginger 
1 jalapeño, minced

 Chop onions, bell pepper & celery and sauté with olive oil, salt and pepper until tender.

Add 3 minced garlic cloves and ½ of jalapeno and continue to cook. 

 Grate the fresh ginger.

 Measure and mix dried spices together and rinse and sort lentils. 

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 Add diced tomatoes, crushed tomatoes, lentils and V8.  Add water until lentils are well covered. 

  

Add ¾ of dried spice mixture and ½ of grated ginger. Add bay leaf, ½ bunch cilantro and ¼ bunch parsley (I tie this together and create a bundle using the stems). Cook on medium-low heat for 2-3 hours, stirring occasionally.

Once lentils are tender and the soup has cooked down, season to taste with salt and pepper and remove the remaining cilantro/parsley bundle. Give a few pulses with the immersion blender.

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 Finely chop the remaining cilantro, parsley, jalapeno and ginger (I used the food processor) with lemon zest, lemon juice, salt and pepper and remaining spices.  Stir about half of this mixture into the soup and reserve the rest to garnish.

Add a dollop of the cilantro-spice mixture to each bowl before serving.

Food is love!

Preserved Lemons

If you are in any way fond of lemons, I would definitely recommend trying this recipe. I encountered preserved lemon for the first time in a vegetable tagine, and it was delicious! The lemon rind becomes very subtly flavored of lemon, and takes on a soft texture which makes the entire thing edible. It works very well in Moroccan dishes, but its uses are limitless- I am excited to try it in lemon chicken!



Measurements are not important when making preserved lemons. You will need a large clean jar with a lid, several lemons (with extras for juice) and lots of salt!



To begin, cut off the very ends of the lemon then incise a deep X. You want the cut to go nearly all the way though, but make sure that your lemon will still stay together.



Open the lemons and stuff the salt inside. It will seem like a lot of salt (and it is, I used roughly 1/2 cup for my jar) but it is necessary for the lemons to preserve properly.






After the lemons have been thoroughly salted inside, it is time for assembly! Start with a few tablespoons of salt in the bottom of the clean jar, then squish all of your lemons in on top of it. You want them to be as tightly fitting as possible, and the crushing helps to release juice from the lemons. Once the lemons and salt are in, add a couple more tablespoons of salt and freshly squeezed lemon juice until the jar is full. Replace the lid and leave the jar on the counter for a couple of days before moving it into the refrigerator for at least three weeks. Every day or so, tip the jar upside down so that the salt can redistribute. To use, remove a lemon and rinse it thoroughly to remove the excess salt. Typically the rind of the lemon is used, but you can also include the pulp depending on how intensely flavored you want your dish. Enjoy!