![Easy Indian Lentil Soup Recipe [Vegan]](https://www.masalaherb.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Indian-Lentil-Soup-gog-150x150.jpg)
Flavorful Indian Lentil Soup - comfort level is high because the soup will brighten up your dinner with the heartwarming colors and nutritious ingredients.
![Easy Indian Lentil Soup Recipe [Vegan]](https://www.masalaherb.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Indian-Lentil-Soup-1.jpg)
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with Spices and Herbs
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Besides, the soup comes together rapid and easy; therefore the soup is a perfect meal idea after a long day at work as each bite revitalizes you.
Plus point: the soup is vegan.
🆚 Indian Lentil soup vs. Lentil Curry
This particular Indian lentil soup is a variation of my Goan masoor dal curry.
The difference is the number of spices used and the quantity.
Also, today's Indian lentil soup is actually 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 the 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 which I have tried in North India.
Those are super thin and most are always prepared with split red masoor dal lentils.
![Easy Indian Lentil Soup Recipe [Vegan]](https://www.masalaherb.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Indian-Lentil-Soup-4.jpg)
Global Food Recipes
with Spices and Herbs
Free E-Book available for a limited time. Grab yours now and get instantly inspired!
You missed out!
🔪 How to make this?
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 easy.
- Wash lentils and keep 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, spices, add lentils, broth.
- Let cook for 10-15 mins or until done.
- Serve hot and enjoy
![Easy Indian Lentil Soup Recipe [Vegan]](https://www.masalaherb.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Indian-Lentil-Soup-3.jpg)
🥣 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 it works great with this lentil soup too.
Otherwise, my husband loves this Indian lentil soup with garlic bread or butter herb bread.
I am good with that too :).
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 at the side.
In the end, we always take out our cheese to finish off the meal.
![Easy Indian Lentil Soup Recipe [Vegan]](https://www.masalaherb.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Indian-Lentil-Soup-2.jpg)
Similiar dishes like the Indian lentil soup:
- Turkish red lentil Soup
- Mulligatawny Soup
- Dal Makhani Curry
- Turkish Vegan Lentil Salad by Hurrythefoodup.com
![Easy Indian Lentil Soup Recipe [Vegan]](https://www.masalaherb.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Indian-Lentil-Soup-pin-1.jpg)
📖 Recipe
![Easy Indian Lentil Soup Recipe [Vegan]](https://www.masalaherb.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Indian-Lentil-Soup-gog-300x300.jpg)
Easy Indian Lentil Soup Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 ½ Cup Red Lentils
- 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
- ½ Teaspoon Cumin Seeds Ground
- ½ Teaspoon Coriander Seeds Ground
- 5 Cups Water mixed with concentrated Stock
- Pinch Nutmeg
- Pinch Salt
- Juice of one Lime
- Cilantro Fresh chopped, aka Coriander greens
Instructions
- Wash and keep your red lentil to soak for about 20-30 mins. That will reduce your cooking time a bit and save you stove energy as well.
- Add oil to a pan and heat up, add in and fry your onion slices.
- Add the mustard seeds with the curry leaves and temper/stir-fry until the spices emit the fragrant aroma.
- Now add the tomato and ginger and garlic, Stir cook again.
- Next, reduce the heat 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, the cumin powder and the coriander powder.
- 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. This I believe helps in releasing the taste of the lentils for the soup flavor.
- Pour in your broth, mix and add the scraped nutmeg and mix again well.
- Let the soup cook covered until the lentils are soft, that should take about 10 minutes.
- Take from heat season with salt to taste and add the lime juice. Mix well.
- Pour soup into serving bowl and garnish with fresh cilantro (coriander).
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 ginger and garlic fresh, substitute 1 tbs paste for 2 fresh garlic clove and ½ inch fresh ginger and chop fine. 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 lentil. red lentils usually cook fast but the soaking can reduce it a bit and with the soaking the tend to cook evenly and get nice 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.
Lentils are a staple in my pantry and during the winter we have them in one way or another several times a week. Your soup looks gorgeous; thanks for pointing out the curry leaves, I’ve seen them at our local Asian grocery store but have never bought them. Can I freeze them?
Yes, you can freeze Curry leaves, but keep them in an airtight container because you don't want the funky smell in your freeze with the other ingredients. Curry leaves smell aromatically strong (I do love the smell but in my curry or soup).