Lentil soup

Dug out some old cookbooks yesterday & made Rose Elliott's Golden Lentil Soup from the Cheap & Easy vegetarian Cookbook. Was struck by how cheap, filling & nice it was. For anyone who'd like to try it, the only ingredients are:
1 onion, chopped
1 litre of vegetable stock (I use 4tspns Marigold powder to make mine....a drum of that lasts for ages)
8 oz red split lentils
Half oz butter or tblspn oil
salt & pepper
(Rose Elliot puts lemon juice in hers but I didn't bother as needed my 1 lemon for something else)
Heat oil & cook chopped onion until softened but not browning. Add the lentils & stir for a monute or two. Add the stock, bring to the boil & simmer gently for 20 mins till lentils are soft. Remove from heat & liquidise. Add salt & pepper to taste. For so few ingredients, I was surprised how nice it was. Had forgotten how good that book is for cheap & filling recipes. Don't know if it's still in print, but always worth looking at the cookery books in charity shops, I've picked up some good thrifty ones there x

Try adding a teaspoon of cumin - great for taste and supposed to help stop the bloating you can get with lentils!!:eek:

i tried a recipe the same as that once but added a couple of tinned tomatoes and some grated carrot. Then blended when cooked and it was delicious a bit like heinz tomato

Hi Elf, yes it is pretty thick, but put a bit less water in and then if it's too thick for you then you can always dilute it back to the strength in the original recipe. I've had a big jug of it in the fridge & we've heated it up as & when we've needed it and I'd say it's got a tendency to get thicker if it sits. Hope you like it anyway.

foxgloves wrote: »

For anyone who'd like to try it, the only ingredients are:
1 onion, chopped
1 litre of vegetable stock (I use 4tspns Marigold powder to make mine....a drum of that lasts for ages)
8 oz red split lentils
Half oz butter or tblspn oil
salt & pepper.....

forgotten how good that book is for cheap & filling recipes. Don't know if it's still in print, but always worth looking at the cookery books in charity shops, I've picked up some good thrifty ones there x

Thanks Foxgloves, I've just made a version of this, I used dried onion (no fresh), added a shake of chilli flakes and some bacon, used chicken stock (cube) and more like 1.5 litres of water.

Blitzed it all down and it's a lovely soup that isn't too thick (not a fan to soups that are gloopy!)

It's lovely thanks for the recipe.

I've got a Rose Elliot book somewhere that came from a charity shop, must try and dig it out.