A North African-Inspired Lazy Soup Recipe

Why am I in love with this North African-Inspired Lazy Soup Recipe? Well, dear friend, once upon a time, there was a young girl living in Paris, France, with a Moroccan family who owned a couscous restaurant. One day, some guests came to their apartment and invited the girl to come to Morocco with them THAT SAME DAY.

Most people would think twice before buying a plane ticket and traveling to a country with complete strangers; a place where they don’t even speak the language. Not this girl! (Did you guess yet that it’s me? 😉 That’s because you’re so smart.) I have a lot of amazing stories from that trip, including interpreting for the king’s annual pro/am golf tour of Morocco, going to a soirée also attended by Prince of Morocco, and winding up on the national news. Stories for another time!

Ever since then, I’ve been smitten with North African flavors. I customized this soup recipe to be delicious, but lazy like yours truly, lol. I love it because it’s delicious, dead easy, I almost always have everything on-hand, and it’s healthy, too!

Specifics

The ingredient list looks long, but don’t be intimidated because it’s almost all pantry spices. In other great news, it keeps for 5-7 days in the fridge and freezes well. So, I usually double it and then I have some for lunches.

What’s more, you can easily turn a lazy North African soup into an entire lazy North African meal. All you need to do is just add a protein, decrease the water, and serve it over rice (preferably with buttered naan or a rustic Italian loaf!).

There is a website that I use to plan food for my meals parties, holidays, etc. It has made my life a TON easier, and saves me money. (There is a referral link here, but I seriously love the software and have paid for it and used it for years). It’s called Plan To Eat .

North African Red Lentil Soup AKA Lazy Soup Recipe
Serves 6

• 1-2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1 t onion powder, or 1 large chopped onion
• .5 t Salt
• pepper, to taste
• 3/4 teaspoon ground coriander
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• Pinch cayenne
• 1 tablespoon tomato paste
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 4 cups chicken broth, or sub vegetarian “non-chick’n” cubes
• 2 cups water
• 10 1/2 ounces (1 1/2 cups) red lentils, picked over and rinsed
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice, plus extra for seasoning
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro

Directions:

First, melt one tablespoon butter in large saucepan over medium heat. Next, add onion powder or chopped onion, salt, coriander, cumin, ginger, cinnamon, cayenne, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper and then cook until fragrant, about two minutes. Then, stir in the tomato paste and garlic, and cook for one minute. Now, stir in the broth, water, and lentils, and bring to a simmer. Simmer vigorously, stirring occasionally, until the lentils are soft and about half are broken down, about 15 minutes.

Now, whisk the soup vigorously until it is coarsely pureed, about 30 seconds. Lastly, stir in lemon juice and season with salt. Cover and keep warm until serving.

Now, get your cilantro out of the fridge and throw it away because it’s slimy.

Ladle soup into individual bowls, add cilantro if you’re better at life than I am, and serve. Sometimes I make it pretty by adding toasted sesame seeds or pepitas.

This soup can be refrigerated for 5-7 days, and it freezes well. The soup will thicken as it cools, but you can thin it with water, if desired, when reheating.