Black Bean and Lentil Soup!

Alright, 

This soup is not pretty; but man does it taste good!  I found this recipe, again, off of epicurious.com but I made my own tweaks to it.  Here is the original recipe (which is just for red lentil soup):

1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
3 garlic cloves, chopped
2 carrots, chopped (1 cup)
1/2 cup chopped fresh or canned tomato
1 celery rib, chopped
1 1/4 teaspoons ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup dried red lentils
4 cups water
1 1/2 cups chicken broth
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley




The several modifications that I made were:
- I doubled the garlic, carrots, and celery
- I only used 1 cup of water.  The other 4 1/2 cups were broth (I used beef broth)
- I added 1-1 1/2 cups of black beans (I used raw and cooked them to their halfway point so they could absorb more flavor. Canned works just as well and is faster/easier)
- I added about 1/4 more lentils than it asked for
- I doubled the cumin


This is a really simple recipe to carry out.  Basically, you heat the oil in a large saucepan.  Add the onion and saute until translucent.  Then you add the garlic, tomatoes, carrots, celery, cumin and salt and saute for about 2 minutes until the cumin is fragrant.  Then you add the beans and lentils and stir them until they are covered.  Then add the broth and the 1 cup of water.  You will simmer this for about a half an hour.

 

I told you it wasn't pretty!

This is served best with a little bit of cilantro or parsley and some sour cream.

If you want to make this vegetarian/vegan, just use vegetable broth instead of beef broth!  (vegans, don't use the sour cream as the accompaniment) It's still really tastey!

I hope you enjoy this.  Let me know how yours turns out and if you have any questions for me!  It's really easy!

Let us talk basic kneeds! 

**** UPDATE ****

So I made this again and did a few different things and I wanted to add it to this recipe so you guys could try it too!

So I followed the basic recipe that I had modified originally; but instead of chopping up tomatoes, I used a large can of crushed tomatoes in the juice, vegetable broth instead of beef broth, added a can of chick peas and 1 tsp of thyme.  I think it gave it a little better of a look to it and I LOVE the taste!

  Let me know your thoughts!