Flavorful Indian Lentil Soup - comfort level is high because the soup will brighten up your dinner with the heartwarming colors and nutritious ingredients.
Besides, the soup comes together rapidly and easily; therefore, the soup is a perfect meal idea after a long day at work, as each bite revitalizes you.
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TL;DR
This particular Indian lentil soup was inspired by the Goan masoor dal. The difference is the number of spices used and the quantity. Besides, this dish is a soup, as it includes more water than the Goan dal curry.
Red split lentils are also known as masoor dal or masoor lentils. I personally make a difference between the Goan dal curry and any masoor red lentil soup because the Goan dal is poured in small quantities over rice as it's spicy and thicker.
Today's Indian-inspired red lentil soup, on the other hand, has got the Goan food flavor profile but resembles the lentil soups that I have tried in North India.
Those are super thin, and most are always prepared with split red masoor dal lentils.
Process Overview
You can prepare this lentil soup in any soup pot, you don't need special equipment for that. Another reason why this meal might be a great idea for students and couples.
Minimum workload here and zero compromises on the taste, and you know I love that! The Indian soup with lentils comes together fairly easily.
- Wash lentils and keep them to soak a bit so that your cooking time is less (saves you time in the kitchen and stove energy).
- Peel and slice your tomato, onion, and, if you use fresh ginger and garlic (otherwise paste)
- Fry ingredients and spices, and add lentil broth.
- Let cook for 10-15 minutes or until done.
- Serve hot and enjoy
📖 Recipe
Indian Lentil Soup Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 ½ Cup Red Lentils split lentils cook faster
- 1 Tablespoon Oil
- 1 Medium Onion sliced
- 1 Teaspoon Brown Mustard Seeds
- 3 Curry Leaves optional, see Notes
- 1 Tomato diced
- 1 Tablespoon Ginger + Garlic paste or chopped, *see Note
- ¼ Teaspoon Turmeric Ground
- ¼ Teaspoon Red Chili Pepper Ground i.e Cayenne, Kashmiri
- ¼ Teaspoon Black Pepper Ground
- Pinch Salt
- ½ Teaspoon Cumin Seeds Ground
- ½ Teaspoon Coriander Seeds Ground
- 5 Cups Broth
- Pinch Nutmeg
- Juice of one Lime
- Cilantro Fresh chopped, aka Coriander greens
Instructions
- Wash and keep your red lentils to soak for about 20-30 minutes. That will reduce your cooking time a bit and save you stove energy as well. When done soaking, strain the lentils.1 ½ Cup Red Lentils
- Add oil to a pan and heat up, add in and fry your onion slices.1 Tablespoon Oil, 1 Medium Onion
- Add the mustard seeds with the curry leaves and temper/stir-fry until the spices emit a fragrant aroma.1 Teaspoon Brown Mustard Seeds, 3 Curry Leaves
- Take it briefly from the heat, and add the tomato, ginger, and garlic. Stir cook for a minute on a medium heat setting (careful, the ginger garlic jumps).1 Tomato, 1 Tablespoon Ginger + Garlic
- Take from the heat again so that you can add the spices one by one without anything burning on. Add in the turmeric powder, the chili powder, the black pepper, salt, the ground cumin, and the ground coriander seed ground.¼ Teaspoon Turmeric Ground, ¼ Teaspoon Red Chili Pepper Ground, ¼ Teaspoon Black Pepper Ground, ½ Teaspoon Cumin Seeds Ground, ½ Teaspoon Coriander Seeds Ground, Pinch Salt
- Stir fry the spices on high heat for a minute, then reduce the heat again.
- Add the lentils to the pan and stir-fry for a minute on high heat again. Pour in your broth, mix, add the grated nutmeg, and mix again well.1 ½ Cup Red Lentils, 5 Cups Broth, Pinch Nutmeg
- Leave the soup to cook covered for about 10 minutes on a medium heat setting. Uncover and simmer further until lentils are cooked through and soft.
- Take it from the heat, adjust salt seasoning, and add the lime juice. Mix well.Juice of one Lime
- Pour soup into a serving bowl and garnish with fresh cilantro.Cilantro Fresh
Notes
- Curry leaves are optional because they are not always available. However, I do suggest you get them because the curry leaves add real flavor to the Indian dal soup. Curry leaves, btw, have nothing in common with curry powder. These are two very different ingredients. Curry leaves grow on the curry plant tree. The leaves taste best when fresh; in fact, curry leaves are rarely used dry in India. You can purchase fresh curry leaves here for a reasonable price.
- For the Ginger and Garlic paste, you can also use fresh ginger and garlic, but I prefer the paste because it mixes in better, and the ginger in paste form helps to thicken any soup or sauce. Yet feel free to use fresh ginger and fresh garlic. Substitute 1 tbs of paste for 2 fresh garlic cloves and ½ inch of fresh ginger, and chop finely. You can also buy ginger garlic paste.
- You may double the dal soup recipe to prepare more. That way you can meal prep for the week, and besides, lentil soup heated up again the next day usually tastes better.
4. If you feel your soup is getting too thick, add some more water to the soup at the end. Sometimes I add about 100 milliliters more, depending on how liquid I want my soup. - If you are short on time, you can skip the soaking part of the lentils. Red lentils usually cook fast, but the soaking can reduce it a bit, and with the soaking, they tend to cook evenly and get nice and soft.
- I add the mustard seeds and curry leaves after the onion has been added because the mustard seeds don't jump up that much when the onion is in the pan.
Nutrition
Serving
I love this soup with flatbreads. It doesn't matter what kind of flatbread, in fact, I even tend to use Middle Eastern or Italian flatbreads because those are seasoned well, and they work great with this lentil soup too.
Try it with Indian roti or ghee chapati.
Otherwise, my husband loves this Indian lentil soup with garlic bread or butter herb bread.
Usually, we serve the Indian lentil soup as a meal on its own because the lentils are rather filling, and then we just serve a green salad or a french bean salad with a mustard vinaigrette with it as a side.
Storing
Keep leftovers in an airtight container refrigerated for up to 6 days. I like to use rectangular glass containers, which can be directly placed into the oven or microwave to reheat.
These glass containers are usually also good to be used in the freezer. Therefore, you can prepare a batch and freeze the soup or prepare a batch as part of your meal prepping weekly menu.
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