Lentil Soup with Lemon and Turmeric

The ingredients needed to make lentil soup are simple and most are probably sitting in your kitchen already. Here’s what you’ll need:

• Lentils — I use brown, red, or French lentils to make the soup and add them uncooked. The lentils cook up to be soft, plus I love the nutritional benefits of lentils. They are high in fibre, B vitamins, iron, protein, and are low in fat.

• Garlic, onion and carrots add nutrients, texture, and colour to the soup.

• Ground cumin, ground coriander, and ground turmeric add spice and colour.

• Broth — For a vegetarian/vegan lentil soup, use veggie broth or use chicken broth.

• Kale or spinach add even more nutrition to the soup.

• Fresh lemon is a must for this soup. It makes all the flavours really pop. I even add slices of lemon to the bowls when serving.

• Fresh herbs are optional, but when I have it on hand I love adding a handful of fresh dill or parsley.

The Steps for Making Nourishing Lentil Soup

Step 1: Cook onions and carrots in a large pot until they begin to soften and are starting to smell sweet. If you have them in the fridge, celery or fennel would be lovely added to the pot, too.

Step 2: Stir in garlic, cumin, coriander, and turmeric. I only cook the aromatics for 30 seconds or so. This short time allows the garlic and spices to warm up, which I think helps them release even more flavour to the soup.

Step 3: Rinse and pick through the lentils. I add the lentils dry (uncooked) to the pot, but before doing that, I make sure to rinse them under running water. I also quickly look through them to make sure anything that isn’t a lentil is removed.

Step 4: Add the lentils and broth. With almost all the soup ingredients in the pot, I bring the soup to a simmer and cook, partially covered, until the lentils are soft. This takes 30 to 40 minutes.

Step 5: Taste and season the soup then stir in greens. Whether you use kale or spinach in the soup, you only need to cook them for a few minutes before serving.

Step 6: Add fresh lemon juice and fresh herbs. Just before serving, I squeeze lots of fresh lemon juice into the soup. This brightens all the flavours and really makes the soup taste fresh and fantastic. Fresh herbs like dill or parsley are also a nice touch.