Moroccan Red Lentil Bean Soup

One of the soups I like to eat at Panera Bread is Moroccan Tomato Lentil Soup. We were eating this on Thursday and wondering what made it Moroccan. I said it was probably cumin. I found this recipe for a Moroccan lentil soup with a bit more oomph. It has cumin and other spices. This uses the little red lentils. They cook down so quickly that they’ll seem to melt. You can substitute brown lentils if you want but you’ll need to cook the soup ten minutes or so more. Whether it’s the cold weather or the fact that I’m recovering from a bad flu-like virus all I want to eat lately is soup. Fortunately, there are hundreds of delicious vegetarian soups.

Moroccan Red Lentil Bean Stew

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 cup finely chopped onion
1 teaspoon saffron, crushed
1 tablespoon hot water
2 teaspoons curry powder
1 teaspoon ground cumin
2 teaspoons minced fresh rosemary
1 teaspoon fennel seeds
6 cups vegetable stock
1  15 ounce can white beans, drained and rinsed
½ cup dried red lentils
½ cup basmati rice
1 can diced stewed tomatoes
1/3 cup chopped fresh cilantro
1 tablespoon tomato paste
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Sauté the onion in the olive oil. Mix the saffron in the hot water nd set aside. Add curry powder, cumin rosemary and fennel seeds to the onions. Stir for 30 seconds. Stir in hot vegetable broth, beans, lentils, and rice. Simmer about 30 minutes until lentils and rice are tender. Stir in the tomatoes, tomato paste and cilantro. Heat through and season to taste.