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Transcript:

Homemade Lentil Soup

Hi, I'm Keith Dunlop, and welcome to About.com Food. Today I'm going to show you how to make a delicious, heartwarming soup that's especially good during the cold weather months � savory lentil soup.

Lentil Soup Ingredients

To make a pot of my lentil soup, you'll need:

• 3 cups of lentils: I'm using French lentils because I like their texture, but feel free to use any kind of lentils
• 3 tablespoons of olive oil
• 8 cups of vegetable stock
• 1/4 cup of dry cooking sherry
• 1 tablespoon of red wine vinegar
• 2 28 oz cans of chopped tomatoes
• 1 16 oz package of corn
• 2 carrots, chopped into chunks
• 1 large onion and 4 cloves of garlic, chopped coarsely
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 tablespoon of chili powder
• 1 tablespoon of cumin seeds
• and pepper to taste

Sauté Onion and Garlic

The first step is to sauté your onion and garlic in the olive oil over medium heat in a large pot. One of the nice things about this recipe is that everything is going in this one pot, which cuts down on dishwashing.

Stir in Lentil Soup Ingredients

After the onions have become slightly translucent, add the quarter cup of sherry and cook for another two minutes. Next, add the stock and while it heats up, you can rinse your lentils. They get added next.

From here, its just a matter of adding the remaining ingredients to the pot. They're all going to cook together, at the same time: the tomatoes (juice and all), the corn (it's ok if it's frozen), and the chopped carrots.

Add in Lentil Soup Spices

Finally, add your spices: the bay leaf, the chili powder, and the pepper � but not the cumin seeds. To give this soup an exotic, slightly smoky flavor, I'm going to roast the cumin seeds and grind them by hand. It's easy to do.

Roast and Grind Cumin Seeds

Place the seeds in a skillet over medium-high heat. As they heat up, they'll begin snapping and crackling as the moisture leaves them. Cook them this way until they're blackened and the crackling subsides.

To grind them, you can either use a mortar and pestle, or a coffee cup and the handle of a wooden spoon. Just crush them against the bottom and sides of the cup until they don't look like seeds anymore. When you're done, stir them into the soup.

Simmer and Serve

At this point, the soup needs to simmer for a few hours. Turn the heat down to low, cover with a lid and let it simmer away - just stir it occasionally to help the ingredients combine. After that, it's ready to serve. I recommend a nice chunk of hearty bread for sopping up the last bit of this healthy and filling soup.

Thanks for watching. To learn more, visit us on the Web at food.about.com.