Red Lentil Soup With Harissa Paste And Smoked Hot Paprika
By: Anonymous
Published: Sunday, December 6, 2009 - 2:12am

Ingredients




2 tablespoons olive oil
2 medium or 3 large onions, chopped
4 carrots, diced
3 celery stalks, diced
1 28-ounce can diced tomatoes, drained and liquid reserved
6 garlic cloves, chopped
2 tablespoons tomato paste
2 teaspoons harissa paste
2 teaspoons cumin
teaspoon hot Spanish paprika
2 cups red lentils
4 cups Roasted Veggie Stock (recommend Mark Bittman
4 cups water
Kosher salt to taste 
Lemon wedges (optional)

Preparation

1 Heat the olive oil in a 4-5 quart pot over medium-high heat. Add the onions. 2 Cook until the onions are soft and have lost raw smell. 3 Add the carrots, celery, diced tomato and garlic. 4 Add cumin, paprika and tomato/harissa pastes 5 Add hearty pinch of kosher salt. 6 Cook, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables have softened. 7 Add the lentils, stock, water and reserved tomato liquid. 8 Bring to a simmer. 9 Simmer uncovered for about 20 minutes. 10 Stir and taste every five minutes or so. 11 Add more tomato/harissa paste, salt or spice if needed. 12 Cook until lentils are tender and serve. 13 If desired, squeeze lemon juice onto soup just before serving 14 Freezable: if freezing, do not add lemon juice until serving.

About


I highly recommend taking the time to make the Roasted Vegetable Stock for this recipe as the depth of that stock helps make this heartier.
If your harissa paste includes cumin already, you might want to reduce the other cumin called for (this recipe is written for harissa paste without cumin).
Great to freeze, just note that freezing can make the heat of spices increase, so you might want to take it to about 80% of where you like spicy-wise it if you plan to freeze so as to avoid losing the subtlety of the other flavors.
Good vegetarian replacement for chicken soup when sick! :)

Comments:
Anonymous

what is the history of paprika