What home cooks struggle with in red lentil soup is not the flavour but the texture. Restaurants get it with vegetables rather than starch: one potato and one carrot, cooked until they collapse along with the lentils, then blended - that is what makes the soup velvety. Do not add too much water at the start; thinning a thick soup is easier than rescuing a watery one.
Ingredients
For the soup
For the top
Method
-
Soften the onion
Heat the butter and olive oil in a pan and stir the onion over medium heat for 4 minutes. It should turn translucent, not coloured.
-
Toast the flour
Add the flour and stir for one minute. Raw flour leaves a dusty taste in the soup, so wait until its smell changes.
-
Add the vegetables and lentils
Add the potato, carrot and rinsed lentils and stir-fry for two minutes.
-
Simmer
Pour in the hot water. Once it boils, lower the heat, leave the lid slightly ajar and cook for 25 minutes. The lentils should have collapsed completely and the potato should mash with a fork.
-
Blend
Add the salt and blend for 1 minute with a hand blender. If you want it perfectly smooth, pass it through a sieve as well.
-
Adjust the consistency
If it is too thick, stir in boiling water; if it is too thin, simmer uncovered for another 5 minutes.
-
Finish with butter
Melt the butter in a small pan, take it off the heat, stir in the pepper flakes and drizzle it over the bowls. Serve with a wedge of lemon.
Tips
- Rinse the lentils until the water runs clear; cloudy water makes the soup froth.
- The soup thickens as it stands. When reheating, a ladle of hot water stirred in is all it needs.
Nutrition
Values are per serving and approximate.