Spicy Lentil And Chickpea Soup

Spicy soups are amazing, especially if they are made of real foods! This spicy lentil and chickpea soup is inspired by the Medditarean nad also the Indian cuisine. Add a little bit of sour cream and coriander leaves on the top. Could you resist??

I love making soups although I don’t share soup recipes often. Don’t ask me why. I just don’t. Sometimes my soup turns to be more a stew than a soup so I rather don’t share it (haha!).

This time, I made sure I added enough liquid during the process of cooking and also after the soup was cooked I double-checked if the soup still resembled the soup. Can you even tell the difference between soup and stew?

Apparently, the soup contains more water, On the other hand, a stew is barely covered with water and it goes through a longer process of cooking and simmering.

Putting this in other words, make sure you add a lot of liquid to this lentil and chickpea soup. Lentils (like any other legume) absorb a lot of liquid during the cooking. It’s your job to check and recognize when you need to add more vegetable stock or water!

This soup also contains 1/2 cup of rice. Another ingredient that absorbs quite a bit of water!

The red lentil chickpea soup is creamy and so nutritious! It’s a great heavy and hearty dish for winter nights when you just want to feel warm from the inside. Winter is also the time of a year when people usually crave soups and stews with legumes, rice, and a lot of root vegetables!

This reminds me of my fabulous One-Pot Winter Lentil Soup and Carrot Soup With Roasted Chickpeas!

If you prefer your food spicy, this soup will do you a great favour. Starting out with frying cumin seeds and hot red chili flakes (IMPORTANT: don’t add any oil in this step!), I also added cayenne pepper for extra hot soup! You can omit this step if you prefer a milder version.

Have you ever had red lentils? They are not as popular as their brown (or green) brothers. It’s truly a shame because red lentils (also called Masoor Dal) are fantastic legumes! They trick you when they change colour from orange to yellow when they are cooked!

Red lentils originally come from Northern India where they are used to make stews, soups, dals, and curries. Red lentils have a quite strong earthy flavour.

I recommend soaking red lentils prior to cooking. Two or three hours should be enough time for soaking. Soaking can reduce cooking time to a half so soak your lentils if you want to save some time!

For garnish, I used fresh coriander leaves, black sesame seeds, and homemade vegan sour cream.

Did you know you could easily make vegan sour cream at home? I made the exact same sour cream for toasts with cherry tomato, sour cream, and pesto. Make sure to check this recipe out because it!s very easy to prepare your own sour cream!

Oh, and if you like coriander (also called cilantro) then you might want to know about some absolutely amazing health benefits of coriander! Like, did you gave clue that coriander increases the production of stomach acid and helps with indigestion or constipation? Its properties work as a body detox and speed up metabolism. Therefore, eating coriander helps with weight loss!

Spicy Lentil And Chickpea Soup

A hearty, creamy, and thick soup made of chickpeas and split red lentils is so good that you won't want to make any other soup for the rest of your life! This soup is easy, quick and since it uses a lot of spices, it has also a lot of flavour. And of course, it's vegan and gluten-free.

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Course: Soup

Cuisine: Indian, Mediterranean

Keyword: chickpeas, creamy, hearty, legumes, red lentils, rice, soup, spicy, winter soup

Prep Time: 10 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 20 minutes minutes

Total Time: 30 minutes minutes

Servings: 4 people

Cost: $6.5

Ingredients

• 2 tsp cumin seeds
• 2 tsp chili flakes
• 2 tbsp coconut oil
• 1 red onion chopped
• 3 cloves garlic minced ¹⁾
• 1 small sweet potato peeled and diced
• 1 large carrot diced
• 1 cup red split lentils
• 1/2 cup brown rice
• 1 can chickpeas drained and rinsed
• 1 tsp smoked paprika
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 2 tsp turmeric
• 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper optional ²⁾
• 5 cups vegetable stock
• 1 can diced tomatoes
• salt and pepper
• fresh coriander leaves for garnish
• vegan sour cream to garnish ³⁾

Instructions

• Fry cumin seeds and chili flakes in a large saucepan with no oil for 1 minute.
• Add coconut oil, onion, garlic, and carrot. Sauteé for 3 minutes.
• Add red lentils, rice, chickpeas, and spices. Stir all together and cook for 2 minutes.
• Stir into stock and canned tomatoes. Cook for 10 minutes or until sweet potato is fork-tender and rice is soft.
• Pour the soup into bowls. Garnish with coriander leaves and sour cream. Enjoy!

Notes

1. You can use garlic paste istead of garlic cloves if you want to avoid peeling and mincing cloves.
2. Adding cayenne pepper is optional. It’s only if you like your soup quite hot.
3. You don’t have to purchase vegan sour cream. You can easily make your own sour cream. Follow this recipe for easy homemade sour cream.

Did you make this recipe? Don’t forget to tag me on Instagram @writtenbyvegan or use hashtag #writtenbyvegan or share it with your friends and family! You can also rate this recipe below! 🙂

Klara Walterova

Klara is a professional freelance writer for hire. She offers web content, blog posting, ghostwriting and copywriting. She writes for a healthy lifestyle, wellness and travel websites. She focuses on veganism and the vegan diet. When she's not writing, she develops new tasty vegan recipes, travels the world or plays with her cats. Please contact her for her online writing services on her website writtenbyvegan.com or visit her Instagram profile @writtenbyvegan.