DGIM Generally Speaking

Culinary Literacy Corner: Winter Hibernation — Red Lentil Soup

By: Helen Delichatsios, MD

Now that we’ve made it through the holidays, the mindset is ripe (haha) for eating healthy in the new year. A great family of foods to choose from is legumes, the fruit or seed of any plant in the family Fabaceae. Some well-known legumes include peas, beans, chickpeas, lentils, soybeans, and peanuts. Legumes are a good source of protein and fiber, commonly consumed in many cultures, and recommended in the extreme of diets including low fat and low carb!

Today we will focus on the lentil, specifically the red lentil (lentils also come in brown and yellow). Pick up and closely inspect a lentil. What do you see? Does the name give you a clue? A lentil is a perfect tiny lens where the name lentil came from! 

The recipe below is adapted from NYTimes cooking. For the 6-8 portions the recipe yields, you can enjoy a meal with your family, bring some to work for lunch the following day, and freeze the rest in single serving portions for future meals. 

Directions:

• Heat oil in a large pot, add onion and garlic, sauté for 4 min
• Stir in tomato paste, cumin, salt, pepper, cayenne, sauté for 2 min *At this stage, the aroma in the kitchen is overwhelming and you will start salivating. Keep going!
• Add broth, water, lentils, carrots. Simmer for 30 min
• Use an immersion blender to puree the soup. (if you don’t have an immersion blender, you could use a regular blender, but that will add to the cleaning duties; the soup can also be eaten chunky)
• Stir the lemon juice and cilantro into the soup and serve. Can garnish with olive oil, cayenne, cilantro.
• Enjoy! 

The photo is taken right before a food demonstration. It nicely demonstrates the culinary concept of “mise en place,” French for “put in place.” It means to have your ingredients and tools ready to go before you start cooking. 

Chefs often use this mise en place concept as a state of mind, and by extension, you can mise en place your life!

♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦

If you are interested in learning more about Dr. Delichatsios’ work in culinary medicine, email her at HDelichatsios@partners.org

Read more articles from the Winter 2018 edition of Generally Speaking