Moroccan Lentil Soup

This is one of my favorite soups. It’s easy to put together, it tastes like more than the sum of its parts, and it’s super healthy. If I have homemade bone broth, I’ll use some in this soup for an added nutrient boost. Sometimes I use half bone broth and half water. The rest of the time I use 100% water and that’s delicious as well.

Lentils are amazing. High in both fiber and protein, they’re a wonderful meat alternative and they also nourish our microbiota and help balance blood sugar. They are high in B-vitamins, iron, zinc, magnesium and potassium, among other things.

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Moroccan Lentil Soup
Adapted from the Moroccan Lentil and Cabbage Soup in the Nourishing Meals cookbook by Alissa Segersten & Tom Malterre (one of my favorites!)

Notes: If gluten is a problem for you, then be sure to pick through your lentils to remove any wheat berries. Every once in a while I will find a little pebble in there too. Don’t forget to rinse afterwards. The cabbage may seem like a lot, but it cooks down. It gives everything more of a stew consistency. If you don’t have it, you can definitely go without and it will still be wonderful.

Recipe updated 1/1/2023

Good plug of olive oil
2 cups French green lentils, picked over and rinsed
1 medium / large yellow onion, chopped
4 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
4 celery stalks, thinly sliced
3 large or 4-5 small / medium carrots, diced
4 teaspoons curry powder
1 teaspoon garam masala
1 teaspoon ground cardamom
10 cups bone broth, vegetable broth or water (or combination)
1 medium head savoy cabbage, shredded
Sea salt to taste

To serve:
Avocado, sliced or mashed with a bit of sea salt
Chopped cilantro
Or nothing… it’s perfect on its own!

Pour a glug of olive oil into a large stockpot over medium heat and add the onion. Sauté for 5-7 minutes, stirring frequently. Add the garlic and sauté for a minute more, then add the celery and carrots and let it all cook and soften for a few more minutes.

Next come the spices - add them to the pot and stir. Quickly drop in the lentils and the broth/water and bring the pot to high heat.

Once the soup comes to a gentle boil, cover, reduce heat and simmer for about 40 minutes, until the lentils are tender.

Shred the cabbage towards the end of the cooking time. When the lentils are done cooking, leave the heat on for a bit longer while you add the cabbage and let it soften in the stew. Salt to taste and enjoy!

Serves 8-10

Parsley Pesto

This dairy-free pesto is amazing on noodles or spaghetti squash, with meatballs, with lentils, with eggs, with roasted chicken, and in all sorts of quinoa / protein / veggie bowls. It can be loaded with extra garlic if you so choose (particularly for cold and flu season). Garlic mellows quite a bit when it sits in lemon juice and salt. I usually make a double batch because it tends to go fast in our house.

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Parsley Pesto
Adapted from The Candida Cure by Ann Boroch, which I know nothing about except that my mom made this recipe for me out of the book at one point and I fell in love with the pesto.

Notes: I know these instructions are vague, but bunches of parsley can vary quite a bit in size, and lemons can vary quite a bit in how juicy they are. Plus it’s all to taste. Some like more garlic and lemon than others. If you’re not sure, start with one garlic clove and the juice of half of a lemon. I generally use Italian parsley for this but you could use curly parsley just as well.

1-2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
Juice of 1 lemon
Scant 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 cup raw pine nuts
1/2 cup olive oil
1 bunch Italian (flat leaf) parsley, chopped, rough stems at the very bottom removed

Place the garlic in a food processor and cover with lemon and sea salt. Let it sit for about 5 minutes to mellow the garlic. Add in the pine nuts, olive oil and parsley and process to a desired consistency. Taste and adjust with more lemon, olive oil or salt as desired.

Melissa Clark's Instant Pot Lentils

This is one of my favorite ways to cook lentils, and I cook lentils a lot. If there are lentils in the fridge, I feel like we have something to eat. We typically enjoy these with some combination of chicken or chicken sausage, sweet potato oven fries, quinoa, salad and/or Spanish kale. I also sometimes eat these lentils in a cabbage leaf with some hot sauce, kind-of as an odd taco, but (at our house anyway) that’s just me…

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Melissa Clark’s Instant Pot Lentils
Adapted, only very slightly, from the Smoky Lentils + Sausage recipe in Dinner in an Instant by Melissa Clark

Notes: If I’m cooking mostly for myself and/or for incidental meals as needed, I’ll make the 1 1/2 cup version. But if I’m making these for our family dinner and would also like some leftovers for the next couple days, I’ll go for the 2 cup version. Iif you have celiac disease or are otherwise very sensitive to gluten, be sure to pick over your lentils to check for any gluten grains. Some batches will have quite a few hiding out in there. Rinse in a strainer when finished.

Special equipment:
Instant Pot or other pressure cooker

1 1/2 cups of dry lentils version:
Olive oil
1 yellow onion, chopped
3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
Freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
1/4 cup dry red wine
1 1/2 cups lentils, picked over and rinsed
Generous 2 3/4 cups filtered water
Several sprigs of fresh thyme
1 teaspoon sea salt, or to taste
2-3 teaspoons apple cider vinegar, or to taste

2 cups of dry lentils version:
Olive oil
1 yellow onion, chopped
4-5 garlic cloves, finely chopped
Freshly ground black pepper
1 1/2 teaspoons smoked paprika
1/3 cup dry red wine
2 cups lentils, picked over and rinsed
3 3/4 cups filtered water
Several sprigs of fresh thyme
1 1/2 teaspoon sea salt, or to taste
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar, or to taste

Turn your Instant Pot to the sauté function, pour in 2-3 tablespoons of olive oil, add the onion and sauté for 5-8 minutes, stirring frequently. I like for the onions to soften quite a bit in this step. Add the garlic and sauté for another minute, stirring frequently. Grind in some black pepper, add the smoked paprika, quickly stir, then pour in the wine and scrape up any brown bits from the bottom of the pot.

Add the lentils, water and thyme sprigs and cook on high pressure for 11 minutes, then let the pressure release naturally. Once the pressure is completely released, open the lid and discard the thyme sprigs. Add sea salt and apple cider vinegar to taste and serve.

1 1/2 cup version serves 6-8.

2 cup version serves 8-10.