Red Lentil - Chickpea Soup

As I'm planning to post recipes on this blog every now and then, chances are that at some point you'll notice a commonality between them. I'll give you a heads up now to avoid disappointment in the future: the kind of food I love can usually be eaten from a bowl. So don't expect to find recipes for lams rack or delicate deserts here. It's mostly soup, salad and pasta that comes out of my kitchen. And nothing fancy either, just easy to make - eat while watching a dvd - dinners.

One of my favorite soups is red lentil-chickpea soup with soft goats cheese and arugula. It is very easy and will only take about 15 minutes to make. Last night I had it with a side of grilled pita bread and curry-crème fraîche dip. -I'm sorry, there's no way to translate crème fraîche. It is what it is apparently: French. You can also use sour cream.-

p.s. I wanted to make a nice picture of it, but then the battery on my camera died and my dinner was getting cold. As it turns out I'm not much of a food photographer and you'll have to settle for a snap shot made by phone. But it gives you the general idea, right?


Red lentil-Chickpea soup

Ingredients -to serve 4-:

For the soup:
3 tablespoons of olive oil
1-2 cloves of garlic
2 spring onions
3,5 teaspoons of  curry powder
2,5 teaspoons of paprika powder
400 gr chickpeas
800 gr red lentils -just use canned lentils, who has the time to soak things overnight-
1 liter of chicken stock -or vegetable if you're a vegetarian- 
salt and pepper

For the topping:
some arugula
soft -or fresh- goats cheese

For the side dish:
200 ml crème fraîche or sour cream
a pinch of salt
2,5 teaspoons of curry powder
1-2 cloves of garlic
lemon juice
1 spring onion to garnish
pita bread to dip

It's easiest to make the dip first, because it's cold anyway. You can prepare the pita bread as well, but wait till your almost ready to serve to toast it so you can eat them warm.

To make the side dish:
1. take 200ml of crème fraîche or sour cream
2. stir in the -finely chopped- garlic and curry powder
3. add a splash of lemon juice and some salt to taste
4. garnish with thinly sliced spring onion
5. slice the pita bread through the middle, coat lightly with some olive oil, toast in a focaccia grill or grill pan, slice into pieces so you can dip

To make the soup:

1. use a regular pan -so not a skillet-
2. finely chop garlic and slice spring unions
3. put in the olive oil and -on medium- heat fry the garlic and onion until they start to glass over
4. add the powdered curry and paprika and stir for about 30 seconds
5. add the lentils and chickpeas -which you've drained- and stir for couple of minutes
6. add the chicken stock
7. bring it to the boil and let it simmer for a couple of minutes -stir a couple of times-
8. give it a couple of whirls with a hand blender. I like it to still have some bite, but that's up to you of course
9. season with salt and ground peper
10. top with a handful of arugula, crumbled goats cheese, a splash of extra virgin olive oil and some extra ground pepper