Southwestern Vegetarian Lentil Soup

Submitted by Engrossed

"Do you enjoy Southwest flavors? Do you enjoy healthy cooking? Then this soup is for you! This hearty, flavorful soup will warm you up on a cold dreary day. It has similar flavors to chicken tortilla soup. Great as a gift too, for anyone who enjoys southwest flavors or someone who is Vegetarian. Bring it over with toppings for an extra special treat. You could also eat this over cooked brown rice."

 

• Ready In: 1hr 15mins
• Ingredients: 31
• Yields: 12 cups
• Serves: 8-12

ingredients

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 white onion, chopped
• 1 carrot, peeled and diced
• 1 -2 jalapeno pepper, seeded and minced
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 tablespoon red chili powder (I used New Mexican)
• 2 teaspoons paprika (I used smoked Spanish)
• 2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 2 teaspoons dried oregano
• 1 teaspoon ground coriander
• 2 teaspoons onion powder
• 1⁄8 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 8 cups water (add vegetable bouillon at end so the salt does not keep lentils from cooking) or 8 cups vegetable broth (add vegetable bouillon at end so the salt does not keep lentils from cooking)
• 1 (4 ounce) can diced green chilies, undrained (may use 2 cans)
• 1 cup brown lentils, picked clean and rinsed
• 6 -8 vegetable bouillon cubes (only if using water)
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1 cup spinach, chopped (fresh or frozen)
• 2 zucchini, diced (about 2 cups)
• 1 (15 ounce) can whole kernel corn, undrained
• 1 (2 1/2 ounce) can black olives, drained and sliced
• 6 roma tomatoes, chopped- use seeds and juice (about 3 cups)
• 3 -4 tablespoons fresh lime juice or 3 -4 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• salt, to taste

• Optional toppings

• sour cream
• cheese, shredded
• green onion, chopped
• cilantro, chopped
• hot pepper sauce
• lime wedge, fresh
• tortilla chips

directions

1. In a large pot, heat oil, sauté onion, carrot, and jalapeno, until soft, about 10 minutes.
2. Add garlic and spices and sauté 2 minutes.
3. Stir in water or broth and scrape any spices that stuck to the pan.
4. Stir in green chilies and lentils. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer, covered, for about 40 minutes until lentils are tender.
5. Uncover and stir in bouillon cubes, if using, and sugar.
6. Stir in spinach, zucchini, corn and olives. Bring to a boil and cook until zucchini is tender about 5 minutes.
7. Remove from heat, stir in tomatoes, lime or lemon juice and salt to taste.
8. Serve with desired toppings.

Reviews

[duonyte]

What an excellent soup! I ended up with a bit more spinach and zucchini, as I had no corn, and I used a mix of veggie broth and chicken broth, as that was what I had and I did not need it to be vegetarian. I added a bit more fresh jalapeno about ten minutes before it was done, just an extra little pop. I also added the tomatoes with the zucchini, and the spinach only at the very end. To make this work for dinner, I cooked it in the morning, and then just added the zucchini etc when I came home from work. Thanks for posting!

 

[Leggy Peggy]

Dynamite soup and I mean that literally. It's packed with plenty of Southwestern flavours and fire. I had to make a few adjustments because of what I had on hand and what is available in Australia. We can't buy little tins of green chillies or black olives, so I used about two ounces each of chopped pickled jalapenos and chopped kalamata olives. Also used three Thai chillies in place of the two fresh jalapenos. Given the changes in chillies, I used only one teaspoon of red chilli powder and that was plenty. As the photo shows, we topped with sour cream, green onion and grated cheese, but I think all the toppings would be great -- maybe more chopped black olives too. Thanks for creating and posting such a winner.