Mexican Lentil Stew

Mexican Lentil Stew
Recipe from here

• 2 cups dry red lentils
• 2 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 medium onion
• 3 stalks celery
• 4 cloves garlic
• Two 14.5 oz. cans fire roasted diced tomatoes
• 4 cups vegetable broth
• 1/4 tsp each turmeric and cumin
• 1 tsp each chili powder
• 10-15 dashes hot sauce
• 1 medium lime
• 1 handful cilantro

STEP 1: In a medium pot, bring the 2 cups of lentils and 4 cups of water to a boil. Once it reaches a boil, turn off the heat and let sit with a lid on for about 20 minutes.

STEP 2: While the lentils are cooking, begin the stew. Finely dice the onions and cook over medium heat in 2 Tbsp of olive oil. While the onions begin to cook, finely dice the garlic and add to the pot. While the onions and garlic cook, finely chop the celery and then add to the pot.

STEP 3: Cook the onions, garlic and celery until they are soft but not brown. Add the cans of diced tomatoes, vegetable broth, turmeric, cumin, chili powder and the hot sauce. Continue to cook over medium heat until hot.

STEP 4: At this point, the lentils should have absorbed the water and become soft. Add the lentils and any remaining water to the soup mixture. Stir well and slightly mash using the back of your spoon. (I used my immersible blender - which worked great!)

STEP 5: Once the entire mixture is hot, add a handful of chopped cilantro and taste test to see if you want any more heat (hot sauce) or salt and pepper.

STEP 6: You can either add the juice of lime to the pot or serve the bowls of stew with a wedge of lime. I like the wedge of lime because it makes for a pretty presentation and that way people can choose whether or not they want it.

Our verdict:
We really liked this soup - it was different. I probably would call it Mediterranean Lentil Soup instead of Mexican...the turmeric adds a different flavor. I only made a half batch, and it was still a lot of soup. I couldn't find red lentils, so I used plain ol' lentils. You could easily add some chicken to this if you wanted to, but it's nice to find some good vegetarian meals as well - healthy and keeps our food costs down a bit! The website this recipe came from is really great, breaks everything down by cost....this soup only costs $0.77/serving! :)