Persian-Style Green Lentil, Tomato & Coriander Soup/Stew

Do you always plan your meals, find recipes and buy all your ingredients in advance? If you are, I envy you! I’ve never been able to do that, I’m just too spontaneous. I usually decide what to cook when I/others are getting hungry and after checking my fridge and cupboards for ingredients. It’s how I came up with this green lentil, tomato and coriander soup/stew recipe yesterday. I had never made this before but I will make it again and again because it turned out totally delicious. My ad hoc cooking experiments don’t always turn out so good I must confess, I’m no magician, and not every made-up dish is going to be a keeper. This one is.

Soups are more than starters in Persian cuisine. They are usually very hearty and chock full of legumes, herbs, vegetables and noodles. Some look like minestrone, others somehow like porridge or even stews. A lot of our soups have no meat or meat stock in them but believe me, they are so flavourful you won’t even notice there’s no meat. And why meat when you get lots of protein from the legumes anyway?

The Persian word for soup is ash (a is pronounced as a in arms) and the word for cook (ashpaz) actually means one who makes soups. I’ve included quite a few exotic Persian soup recipes in Nightingales & Roses including the ones in the pictures below and a very exotic Persian Plum Soup with Fried Mint Topping here on this blog. Check it out, it’s totally delicious, vegan and glutenfree.

Back to the story of how my green lentil, tomato and coriander soup/stew recipe was born. To be honest, I first meant to cook spicey lentils for a quick lunch. I started with fried onions and garlic, spices (turmeric, smoked paprika, cumin, pepper, cayenne) and tomato paste and put the lentils straight in with some boiling water. My very friendly English handyman who was hanging blinds for me in another room was drawn to the kitchen by the smell and asked me what it was that I was cooking. It must have been quite unfamiliar to him.

I kept going back to the pot thinking the dish lacked something, I wanted something better than spiced lentils to whet the appetite I’ve lost following a nasty cold. I started craving my mum’s tomato, spinach and chilli soup (picture below) but I was already in the middle of making something else. I looked around and the very ripe tomatoes in my vegetable basket caught my eye, then I rummaged in the fridge and found a big bunch of coriander. That was it. I had to put chopped tomatoes and coriander in it and make it a little soupy similar to what I was so craving.

The dish ended up smelling fabulous and tasted even better. I think it was the fresh coriander that made it. I love coriander but do realise it can be extremely unpleasant to some people because of a gene that makes the smell unbearable to them. If you are one of those people you’ll probably not be reading this post after seeing the recipe title but if you are reading it and thinking “Oh, crap! I hate coriander!” I recommend using spinach, parsley or a mixture of the two instead. It won’t be the same but will still be very tasty.

I had this with crusty bread for lunch and obviously shared some with my friendly handyman – it would have been very un-Persian of me not to. He said it was delicious but had never had anything similar to it before. In fact he never had even thought of cooking lentils, he said.

Make this dish as thin as you wish and serve it as a soup to start a meal. Or make it thicker to have as a light meal on its own. Or serve the thick version as a side with roasts or even spooned over cooked rice or pasta. It can work in so many ways.

The following recipe will serve four as a light meal on its own.

Ingredients:

• 4 tbsp oil (I prefer extra virgin rapeseed oil)
• 2 large white onions, finely chopped
• 2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
• 1 tsp turmeric
• 1 tsp smoked paprika (optional)
• 1/2 tsp ground cumin
• 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
• 2 tbsp tomato paste
• 250g green lentils, picked over and rinsed in a sieve
• 2 medium tomatoes, chopped
• big bunch of coriander (about 60 grams), chopped
• 1 tsp dried mint
• salt and black pepper to taste
• Yoghurt to serve
• Coriander leaves to garnish

Method:

1. Put the oil and onion in a pot and fry over medium heat until golden brown and crisp. Remove about two tablespoons of the fried onions from the pot and spread on paper towels to drain. Set aside.
2. Add the garlic and spices to the rest of the onions and cook for 2-3 minutes, then add the tomato paste and cook for a further two minutes.
3. Add the lentils to the pot and cover with boiling water (coming up about 3-4 centimetres above the lentils). Bring back to the boil then cover the pot with a lid and reduce the heat. Simmer gently until the lentils are cooked through. This may take anywhere from 20 to 40 minutes depending on the type of lentils and the size of your burner. Add a little more boiling water from the kettle whenever it’s getting too dry.
4. When the lentils are cooked add the chopped tomatoes, coriander and dried mint and simmer gently for about 10 minutes. Stir the soup/stew with a wooden spoon from time to time to break down some of the lentils to thicken it. If you intend to serve it as a soup add a little boiling water from the kettle to thin it. It’s really totally up to you how thick or thin you want it to be.
5. Ladle the soup/stew into bowls and spoon some yoghurt over it, then garnish with the reserved onions and coriander leaves. Enjoy!