Delicious Soup

Delicious Soup

1 tbs olive oil
1 clove garlic, minced
l small onion, chopped
2 carrots, grated or chopped
2 celery stalks, chopped
1 - 2 tsp cumin, to taste
3 - 4 cups water and appropriate amount of bullion, or stock
1/4 cup split red lentils (more if you want a thicker soup), rinsed
1/2 cup cooked rice

Optional protein of your choice, such as: shrimp, fish, chicken, sausage, tofu, egg...

Heat the oil in a medium pot over medium high heat.  Add the garlic and onion and saute until the onion is starting to become translucent.  Add the carrot and celery and saute for another 3 - 5 minutes.  Add the cumin and stir to combine.  Add the water and bullion or stock and the split red lentils.  Bring to a boil, lower to simmer and cook for 20 minutes.  Add the cooked rice during the last minute.

Depending on the nature (raw, cooked?) of your optional protein - add or precook it accordingly.  If you have leftover meat or fish this soup is begging for it.  We add raw egg to soup a lot - it will cook up in the last minute if you stir it around.  For this amount of soup, 1 or 2 eggs would be fine - too much egg-to-soup results in thick wet custard - not delicious.  Alternate or additional veggie could include broccoli, sweet potato, spinach, cabbage, mushrooms...  In lieu of rice, other grain additions could include a small handful of quinoa, barley, or Israeli couscous.  Depending on the grain, you could use it raw and add along with the liquid (quinoa or couscous, for example, would cook within 20 minutes).

It's extra delicious topped with sour cream or plain yogurt, grated cheese, fresh herbs, a squeeze of lemon or lime, hot sauce or anything else you like.

3 - 4 servings

As I wrote out this recipe I thought Mark Bittman, in particular his article, "Chop, Fry, Boil: Eating for One, or 6 Billion."  Worth a read or reread.  The idea of getting into a groove of cooking without a recipe per se, instead to your own particular tastes with simple ingredients is very compelling to me.
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M's menu today consisted of a bowl of cereal and strawberries for breakfast, a day old pancake (buttered and syrup-ed) and peanut butter crackers for snack, pizza (mostly bites of the crust) and a few antipasto bits for lunch, a chocolate croissant and "coffee" (a big cup of warm milk with a little decaf cappuccino foam) and a scrambled egg with spinach for afternoon snack.... Needless to say, by dinner some veggies and a non-carb laden offering was in order.  This soup hit the spot.