My mum often makes this substantial and nutritious Indian lentil soup, which will fill you up without filling you up too much. Similar steps can be used to replace different crops and greens, such as substituting Swiss chard, kale, or mustard greens for spinach. Cooking times will differ. Steamed rice is recommended.
| Prep Time: | 20 mins |
| Cook Time: | 1 hr 30 mins |
| Total Time: | 1 hr 50 mins |
| Servings: | 4 |
Ingredients
- 1 cup red lentils
- 4 cups water
- 1 teaspoon salt, plus more for seasoning
- 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 1 teaspoon mustard seeds
- 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
- 1 onion, chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 pinch ground turmeric
- 1 bunch spinach, chopped
- 1 large plum tomato, chopped
- ½ teaspoon cayenne pepper
- ¼ cup chopped fresh cilantro
- water, as needed
Instructions
- Bring lentils and 4 cups water to a boil in a saucepan. Stir in salt. Reduce heat to medium-low and cook at a simmer 10 minutes. Skim off any scum that forms and continue to simmer until lentils are tender, about 1 hour.
- Heat oil in a separate saucepan. Cook mustard seeds and cumin seeds in hot oil until they start to splatter, 2 to 3 minutes. Add onion, garlic, and turmeric to seeds; cook and stir until onion is soft, about 5 minutes. Stir spinach, tomato, and cayenne pepper into onion mixture; cook until spinach wilts and tomato is tender, about 5 minutes.
- Stir cooked lentils and cilantro into spinach mixture; bring to a simmer and cook for 5 minutes. Adjust salt and water to taste and texture preferences.
Reviews
For soup,A recipe is just a suggestion. I always change them. I had a dry soup package of red lentils and spices. After smelling the spices were heavy scented so I used it .I added curry spice and turmeric. I was very good.I can also recommend, to by Minors soup base.It’s used in most professional kitchens. It can be expensive but lasts a long time.I keep a variety of flavors.It helps give your soups a boost..
Very good for a Daniel fast. Loved it the way that it was. But maybe next time will add chicken
Best Soup Ever! Especially the next day. I used red lentils which only needed to be cooked for 20, 30 Max. Add extra cilantro and serve with a toasted, buttered slice of crusty bread ?? I made a double batch and froze half, it still tastes great once defrosted and reheated.
Great, I added extra turmeric, used ground cumin, 1/2 beef broth and made it in an instant pot.
I made this and really loved the flavor. I kept it thicker and served over Basmati rice. Really hits the spot!
This recipe is great! I doubled the recipe and also added more spinach, onions, garlic and spices! Really good and flavorful but best of all easy for my first time making an Indian dish!
It made for a decent meal, but I thought it needed more spices. We had it with bread since we didn’t have rice ready.
I made this in the instant pot. Started with the saute function to cook spices and onion/garlic in coconut oil, then added rinsed lentils and broth. Pressure cooked 10 minutes, let sit for 10 minutes, then released steam. Stirred in tomatoes and spinach and added salt and cayenne to taste at the end. Served over brown rice with cilantro and labneh. Delish!
Recipe was very good. I added lemon juice (1/2 lemon) at the end to give it that extra kick. Also, as other reviewers pointed out: 1) the seeds splatter so make sure to cover them 2) the lentils boil over easily so make sure to NOT cover them completely 3) Lentils dont need an hour to cook. 30 minutes is entirely sufficient
Very tasting comfort food. Everyone loved it.
Delicious! I didn’t have on hand the mustard seeds or turmeric, will buy them and make it again, I bet it will be better. To try to compensate for that missing flavor I substituted chicken broth for the water. Lucky, thank you for sharing your mom’s recipe!
This turned out great! This was my first try at cooking an Indian dish, and I was relieved that it wasn’t intimidating at all. An hour to cook the lentils was just the right amount of time to get a perfect dal consistency. Additional comment – I made this again but didn’t have red lentils and used regular lentils. I would say it is very important to use red lentils. The consistency was much better with the red, and it absorbed the favors much better.
I switched it up at bit to add more veggies and taste more like a curry dish. added mixed greens, half a minced zucchini, grated carrot. Gave it a sweeter flavor so added a teaspoon of curry powder, tsp of garam marsala, berebere spice and a half teaspoon salt. Great spicy flavour. Nice to be able to make this recipe versatile. Serving it with basmati and naan.
Delicious! I didn’t have cumin seeds so I just used ground cumin. I also threw all my spices in with the mustard seeds, and it still came out very flavorful. Did a little more than the pinch of turmeric, and I also used split lentils instead of whole. A great recipe!
Red lentils don’t take an hour to cook. I used 3 cups of water and simmered on a low boil for 30 minutes. Used two large tomatoes and a big bag of spinach. Added a chopped red chili pepper, increased the turmeric to 1/2 tsp, and added a dollop of Patak’s vindaloo paste. Served with rice. Delish!
Used ground mustard instead of seeds because I didn’t have them. Other than that stuck with the program. Tastes great.
Loved this! Altered it a bit with cabbage and broccoli, broth was great!
If you’re doubling the recipe, be sure to double the amount of water you put in with the lentils. The auto feature neglects that!!!
this came out great – i have one word of caution. I’m new to Indian cooking, and I was very unprepared to cook the mustard and cumin seeds until they start to splatter. They splattered all over the stove and the floor! I think I heated the oil too hot. Be prepared with a lid when you do this and don’t heat the oil too much before you add the seeds. Otherwise, delicious!!!
This tasted much better than anticipated. Served it up with some chutney and the sweetness brought all the flavors together, even got the kids to eat some too.
Thank you Lucky for the satisfying meal we had tonight, not a bad recipe for someone just being introduced to Indian cooking. I do however feel that it needed more of a kick. We ate it with naan.