With winter showing off its chilly and damp side, I was looking to make a quick, no-fuss lunch that would also keep me warm. Also, I admit, I was a bit lazy to go out and buy fresh vegetables or meat, so I resorted to what I had in the pantry and luckily, a single last celery stalk that was lingering in the bottom drawer of the fridge.

Ideally, I would have thrown in a chopped carrot, but I had none. However, this soup turned out so good that I will probably be making it more often in the cold season. It’s sweet and it’s hearty without being heavy, just how a nice winter soup should be.

I used coral lentils for this soup and I really recommend you get these specific ones if you can. They’re quite small and they’re an absolute delight in soups or mashed, as they sort of explode and break up to a paste-like consistency very fast and they have the nicest sweetness to them. On the downside, they’re not as cheap as ordinary lentils, but a little goes a long way, so you’ll be making lots of stuff before you use them up.

This recipe takes almost no time to make, you just need to chop up the onion and celery stalks and the rest of it practically makes itself. The best thing to have with this soup is a couple of bread slices (sourdough ideally), drizzled with olive oil, a little bit of sea salt and oven-baked until golden.

A helpful tip on storing celery stalks here

 

Coral Lentil Soup

1 Tblsp olive oil

1 celery stalk, diced

1 small yellow onion, diced

Salt, to taste

115gr/1/2 cup coral lentils

1 bay leaf

600 ml vegetable or chicken stock

Lemon juice squeezed from half of a lemon

Pepper, to taste

Fresh coriander, finely chopped

Heat the olive oil in a saucepan set on medium heat. Add the onion, celery and salt, stir to combine and cover. Let vegetables sweat about 5 minutes, until the onions are translucent. Add the lentils, stock and bay leaf, bring to a boil, turn the heat to low and let simmer, covered, about 20 minutes, until the lentils have fallen apart. Turn off the heat, stir in the lemon juice, add salt and pepper to taste. Ladle in two bowls, sprinkle with fresh coriander and serve.