Red Lentil Vegetable Soup

sprout 13's Note:

A mild and sweet vegetable soup made more filling with red lentils and rutabagas. If you don't like rutabagas, potatoes could be substituted, but the rutabagas do add a special spicy sweetness. Use a good vegetable boullion for this (I like Rapunzel) because its flavor will dominate the dish.

• Total Time: 1 hrs
• Prep Time: 10 mins
• Cook Time: 50 mins

Ingredients:

Servings: 8

• 2 vegetable bouillon cubes, enough to make 4 c stock
• 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon dried tarragon
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon red chili pepper flakes
• 2 rutabagas, sliced
• 1/2 onion, sliced
• 3 garlic cloves, sliced
• 2 carrots, chopped
• 3 dried shiitake mushrooms
• 1 cup red lentil
• 1 red pepper
• 1/2 head green cabbage, chopped
• salt, to taste

Directions:

1. Combine vegetable boullion, herbs and spices, and about 6 cups water in a large pot and bring to a boil.
2. Add rutabagas, onion, garlic, carrots, and dried mushrooms. Simmer for about 10 minutes.
3. Add lentils and red pepper. Simmer for 15 more minutes. Add more water, if needed, to cover vegetables.
4. Add cabbage and simmer 10 more minutes, or until cabbage is done. To prevent a cooked cabbage flavor, do not cover the soup.
5. Remove dried mushrooms. Discard woody stems and dice caps. Return diced caps to pot.
6. Taste for seasoning and add additional salt if needed. My boullion is salty enough that usually no additional salt is needed.
7. Note: Red lentils cook quickly and I prefer them cooked to a "falling-apart" doneness. If you like firmer lentils, add in the last 15 minutes of cooking, or cook lentils separately and add to the finished soup.

Reviews

[kelly in TO]

Good soup. I did have a few unexpected setbacks however. I halved the soup, chopped the rutabaga, and sliced the peppers. I should have diced the rutabaga - the pieces were too big, same goes for the peppers. I also needed another 1.5 cups of stock to thin it out. Because my rutabaga pieces were quite large I ended up pureeing the soup then adding the extra stock to thin it down. The flavor of my soup in mild and did need the salt. In the end, my soup was good.