Hearty Lentil Swiss Chard Soup Recipes

SWISS CHARD SOUP WITH LENTILS

Steps:

• Wash the chard and with a knife separate the leaves from the stems. Chop the stems and slice the leaves (but keep leaves and stems separate).
• In a large pot or Dutch oven warm the olive oil, add onion and cook until soft and translucent, about 5 minutes.
• Add the garlic, all the spices, give a good stir, and cook for a further 20-30 seconds.
• Add the lentils, the chopped stems and the broth (alternately, warm water will work too). Bring to the boil.
• Reduce to medium heat, cover with a lid and cook until the lentils are soft, it will take about 15-20 minutes.
• Once the lentils are done, blend part of the soup with an immersion blender (alternately, transfer part of the soup into a highspeed blender, but be careful, it's hot and in this case you might want to turn the heat off and wait 5 minutes until it cools down a bit).
• Add the Swiss chard leaves and half of the coriander, push them down with the back of a wooden spoon, and cook for about 3 minutes until the leaves are tender but still bright and green.
• Turn off the heat, taste and adjust the seaoning adding more salt and pepper according to your taste. You might want to adjust the consinstency too, feel free to add a bit of warm water if you wish to thin out the soup.
• Serve with extra chili flakes if you like, chopped coriander leaves and lemon juice (about a quarter of lemon per serving is fine, don't skip it!). Enjoy.

SWISS CHARD AND LENTIL SOUP WITH LEMON JUICE

Steps:

• Wash the strips of Swiss Chard; drain.
• In a large saucepan put the lentils and about 9 cups of water, place on high heat. Bring
• to a boil, reduce the heat to medium and add the Swiss Chard. Cover and boil gently for 15 minutes.
• Meanwhile heat the olive oil in a skillet, add onions. Cook on medium heat until translucent; add the garlic paste and cilantro and cook gently for 3 minutes; transfer to the saucepan and mix well with the softened chard and the lentils.
• Continue cooking covered for another 45 minutes until the lentils are tender.
• Slowly incorporate the lemon juice, season with salt and pepper; simmer uncovered for 5 minutes.
• Taste and adjust seasoning if necessary, serve at room temperature.
• In the winter I tend to add potatoes to this soup, making it more hearty. This soup is nice and tart.

LENTIL SOUP WITH SWISS CHARD

Steps:

• Place all ingredients in a 5 to 6 quart crockpot, stir, and cook for 4 hours on high or 6 to 8 hours on low.
• Lentils and other vegetables should be cooked but not overly soft.
• Remove bay leaves, stir and serve with fresh baked cornbread and jalapeno pepper sauce on the side.

RED LENTIL AND SWISS CHARD STEW

Steps:

• In a large soup pot or saucepan, saute the onion in oil over medium high heat for 10-15 minutes or until onion is golden.
• Stir in curry powder and cayenne.
• Add the broth and chard and increase heat to high and bring to a boil.
• Reduce heat to medium and stir in lentils and garbanzos. Cover pan and simmer for 10 minutes or until lentils are tender (if you use brown lentils it will take longer for lentils to be tender), stirring occasionally.
• Divide soup into bowls and top with sour cream or yogurt, if desired.

LEBANESE LENTIL AND SWISS CHARD SOUP

Steps:

• Spread the lentils on a platter and pick them clean of any impurities. Rinse & drain.
• Put the lentils and water in a large saucepan and place over a high heat. Bring to the boil, reduce the heat to medium, cover the pan, and boil gently for 30 - 45 minutes or until the lentils are tender.
• While the lentils are cooking, wash the swiss chard, trim the dirty bottom ends of the stalks, if any, and chop into thin strips about 1/2-inch wide. Add to the lentils & simmer another 5-10 minutes until the chard has softened.
• Peel the garlic cloves, chop them coarsely, and put them in a mortar. Add a generous pinch of salt to absorb the juices released from the crushed garlic and pound with a pestle until you have a smooth paste. You could squeeze the garlic with a garlic crusher but the texture and taste of pounded garlic is nicer.
• Slowly incorporate the lemon juice into the garlic paste, then the olive oil.
• When the lentils and chard are done, stir the garlic mixture into the soup. Season with salt to taste and simmer uncovered for 5 minutes.
• Taste, adjust seasoning if necessary and serve at room temperature.

FRAGRANT RED LENTIL AND RAINBOW CHARD SOUP

Steps:

• Soak lentils in a bowl with water to cover for 15 minutes.
• Heat olive oil and bouillon in a stockpot over medium heat. Add onions; cook and stir until translucent, about 5 minutes. Stir garlic, coriander, cumin, turmeric, and curry powder into onion mixture. Cook and stir until onion is tender and browned, adding a few spoonfuls of vegetable broth if needed to prevent burning, about 10 minutes more.
• Drain lentils and stir into onion mixture with remaining broth; bring soup to a boil. Cover stockpot, reduce heat, and simmer until lentils are soft, 30 to 45 minutes.
• Trim chard leaves, stack together, and cut into 3/4-inch strips. Stir chard into soup and cook until softened, about 10 minutes more.