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• Recipe Overview
• Ingredients
• Processes - Utensils
• Instructions

• Cuisine

  European >> Greek >> Greek

• Dietary Style

• Source

  Genius Kitchen(food.com)

| 1. In a large pot, cover lentils with boiling water and allow to boil for 10 minutes. | 2. Drain lentils of this ‘first boiling’ (greeks think that this process makes the lentils easier to digest – I prefer it). | 3. Put lentils back into pot. | 4. Add bulgar or barley (if using), onions, garlic, carrots, tomato paste, bay leaves, salt and pepper. | 5. Pour 2 ½ quarts of boiling water over lentils, bring to a boil. | 6. When mixture boils, decrease temperature to leave the lentils cooking at a simmer and cook, covered, for 1 ½ hours. | 7. Add olive oil and balsamic vinegar and simmer ½ an hour longer. | 8. Taste. | 9. If the lentils are still too firm to the bite, allow to cook until they are tender and soup has thickened (soup will continue to thicken as it cools). | 10. If the soup is too thick, you can thin with a little hot water. | 11. Traditionally, we eat this soup with lots of Kalamata olives, feta cheese and crusty bread. | 12. I serve half the soup on one day and freeze the other half (it freezes beautifully) to serve on another day when I’m too busy to cook. | 13. Crockpot Version: Put all the ingredients except for olive oil and balsamic vinegar into your crockpot. | 14. Cook on low for 7 hours. | 15. Add olive oil and balsamic vinegar and cook a further 2 hours. | 16. Ev's notes: You can enrich this already delicious soup by making a couple of variations. Add 1/2 lb of minced bacon, but cut back the olive oil to a couple of tablespoonfuls; or add 1 lb of sliced sausage, like Kielbasa. Again, cut back on the oil. | 17. New note: (added Dec. 27, 2004) I have taken to adding 1/2 cup bulgur wheat to this soup when I add all the other ingredients; it makes the soup more nutritionally complete if totally vegetarian, and really good and hearty; I strongly urge you try this version. | 18. Freezer Note: This makes quite a lot of soup - definitely enough for 2 meals (plus a little extra for the super-hungry) for my family of 5. I have taken to freezing half the batch to provide me with a quick, nutritious dinner further on down the line when time is short and you don't want to resort to ordering inches Just defrost in microwave, reheat well and serve. | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Estimated Nutritional Profile for Ingredients

Ingredient Name	Quantity	Unit	State	Energy (kcal)	Carbohydrates	Protein (g)	Total Lipid (Fat) (g)
brown lentil	1	lb	rinsed dried	403.4676	0.0	89.7602	2.2667
bulgur wheat	1/2	cup		403.4676	0.0	89.7602	2.2667
onion	2		minced	120.0	28.02	3.3	0.3
garlic clove	5		quartered	403.4676	0.0	89.7602	2.2667
carrot	4		grated	100.04	23.3752	2.2692	0.5856
tomato paste	2 1/2	tablespoons		32.8	7.564	1.7280000000000002	0.188
bay leaf	3			-	-	-	-
salt	2	teaspoons		-	-	-	-
pepper	1/4	teaspoon		1.4432	0.3677	0.0597	0.0187
water	2 1/2	quarts	boiling	-	-	-	-
olive oil	3/4	cup		1432.08	0.0	0.0	162.0
red wine vinegar	4	tablespoons		11.324000000000002	0.1609	0.0238	0.0

- Means that suitable USDA nutrition profile could not be mapped for this ingredient-unit combination.