Recipe: Red Lentil Soup with Harissa Paste and Smoked Hot Paprika

I’ve been under the weather lately, and between that and all the sugar I’ve been forced to ingest just through tasting what I’m baking for the holidays, I am – for once – craving the savory and the spicy instead my usual sweet.

This Red Lentil Soup with Harissa Paste and Smoked Hot Paprika has become my latest favorite thing and replacement for chicken soup whilst sick.

It’s based on this recipe from Epicurious, but I decided to up the spices by finally putting to use the harissa paste I got at PFI quite some time ago.

Harissa is a North African spice paste or sauce that is made from chili peppers and can be spiced with cumin, caraway, coriander and/or garlic.

Between that and some lovely smoked hot Spanish paprika...

...this is a delicious spicy soup without having so much heat as to be unpleasant. I haven’t had much use for either of these ingredients prior to this (can’t remember what I bought them for in the first place), but now that I’ve used them successfully, it’s like it gives me some context for what they can do, and I think they can both be very useful for adding a tolerable amount of heat with some complexity of flavor.

As noted, the recipe calls for Roasted Vegetable Stock, specifically the Mark Bittman kind (scroll down about halfway through the page in that link for the recipe). If you are not into making stock, this might seem an excessive extra step, one that takes this soup from relatively quick to an all-afternoon endeavor.

But I must insist! I’ve found the combo of the umami of the mushrooms and the carmelization of the roasted vegetables in the stock gives a depth and body to this all veggie-soup that could otherwise be a bit watery-tasting.

The stock is a great investment of time and worth doing and then storing in the freezer just so you can whip up a soup like this.

Speaking of the freezer, this soup makes up a big old batch and the soup freezes well, so make one pot and eat off it for a while. Just note: freezing can make the heat of spices increase, so you might want to take it to about 80% of where you like spicy-wise it if you plan to freeze so as to avoid losing the subtlety of the other flavors.

(Note: this was a half batch so your raw ingredient qty will look larger based on the below recipe.)

Red Lentil Soup with Harissa Paste and Smoked Hot Paprika

(Makes about 10-12 servings)

• 2 Tbl olive oil
• 2 large or 3 medium onions, chopped
• 4 carrots, diced
• 3 celery stalks, diced
• 1 28-oz can diced tomatoes, drained and liquid reserved
• 6-8 garlic cloves, chopped (depending on how big the garlic cloves are and/or how much you like garlic)
• 2-3 Tbl tomato paste (start low and add more to make a richer flavor if needed)
• 2-3 tsp harissa paste (start low and add more depending on your tolerance/preference for spice)
• 2 tsp cumin (my brand of Harissa paste did not have cumin in it; if yours does, you might want to cut back a little until you have the chance to taste it)
• ½ tsp hot Spanish paprika
• 2 cups red lentils
• 4 cups Roasted Veggie Stock
• 4 cups water
• Kosher salt to taste
• Lemon wedges (optional)

1. Heat the olive oil in a 4-5 quart pot over medium-high heat. Add the onions and cook until the onions are soft and have lost the raw smell (about 5 minutes or so).
2. Add the carrots, celery, diced tomato solids, garlic, cumin, paprika, tomato and harissa pastes and a hearty pinch of kosher salt. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables have softened a bit (about 7 minutes).
3. Add the lentils, stock, water and reserved tomato liquid. Bring to a simmer and simmer uncovered for about 20 minutes. Stir and taste every five minutes or so, adding more salt, spice, harissa paste and/or tomato paste if needed to taste. Cook until lentils are tender and serve.
4. If desired, squeeze a bit of lemon juice onto soup just before serving (if freezing, do not add lemon juice until serving).