Oriental lentil soup

Ingredients for 4 servings:

• 125 g lentils, brown
• 125 g lentils, red
• 1 large onion(s)
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1 liter vegetable broth (can easily be made from leftovers, such as peels, trimmings, etc.)
• 2 carrots
• 1 tsp, heaped paprika powder, sweet
• 1 tsp, levelled cumin, ground
• 1 tsp, leveled coriander powder
• 1 tbsp salt
• 1 bunch of mint
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 200 g tomatoes
• 1 tsp chili flakes

Instructions

Working time approx. 15 minutes; Cooking/baking time approx. 1 hour; Total time approx. 1 hour 15 minutes

Chop the onion, garlic, and tomatoes as finely as possible. Fry the onion in olive oil until golden brown, then add the garlic and chili flakes (use less if you don’t like it too spicy). Fry briefly, then add the tomatoes and let everything simmer for a few minutes. Add the brown lentils and remaining spices to the pot and let them simmer for a while. Pour in the vegetable stock and simmer gently for about 20 minutes. In the meantime, peel the carrots and slice or grate them, and wash and chop the mint. Add the red lentils to the soup and simmer for another 10 minutes. Then add the carrot strips and let them cook until the lentils are soft. At the end, stir some of the mint into the soup. The rest is for garnishing. A wedge of lemon also goes well with it, and I like to eat the soup best with fresh Turkish flatbread.