Cheap, simple ingredients treated with a little love and given a lift with spicy harissa create a delicious soup which is hearty and healthy. My favourite kind of soup.
I’m a sucker for a good simple soup, at any time of the year. If it can be made with cheap store cupboard ingredients, satisfy my hungry tummy and warm my heart, then all the better.
This soup ticks all of those boxes. It was quick to get together too, with less peeling and chopping than usual, leaving me free to get on with the rest of my jobs in the kitchen while this bubbled away. I made the harissa while this was cooking.
The soup and the harissa together are a match made in heaven. The soup’s flavours are comforting and familiar, while the harissa is bold and spicy. Each mouthful is different, depending what you scoop onto your spoon.
I ate the leftover soup the next day, cold and straight out of its container from the fridge. It was one of those days. Yet surprisingly it was still delicious! The flavours had melded and the chill made the lemon somehow stand out more. I’m not saying you should serve this cold, but just know that if you need to shovel some sustenance into your belly quick sharp then it’ll totally work.
Each serve is high in vitamin A and C, has 10g of protein and 20 per cent of your daily iron requirements. Not too shabby.
Green lentil soup with harissa
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 onion, finely chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, crushed or grated
- 1 tsp cumin seeds
- 1 litre vegetable stock of your choice, I used 2 tsp of Vegeta stock powder and 1 litre of water
- 1/2 cup green lentils
- 3 medium sized potatoes, peeled and cubed
- 1/2 cup parsley, finely chopped
- 2-3 cups spinach, roughly chopped
- Juice of one lemon, approximately 3 tbsp
- Salt and pepper to taste
- Harissa paste, to serve
Instructions
- Heat oil in a deep saucepan.
- Add onion, garlic and cumin seeds and cook for about 5 minutes or until softened and beginning to colour.
- Add vegetable stock and lentils. Bring to a simmer and cook for 20 minutes.
- Add cubed potato and cook for a further 15 minutes. Both the lentils and potatoes should be cooked but still holding their shape.
- To finish the soup stir through chopped parsley, spinach and lemon juice.
- Add salt and pepper to taste.
- Serve with a healthy swirl of harissa paste and crusty bread rolls on the side.
Thank you for sharing this! It looks delicious and I can’t wait to try making it at home. Harissa is one of my favorite ingredients to almost any dish.