Red lentil soup – antipakjes avond.. & living leaner
Am I seeing two little feet popping in the frame??
Where to start… You are now probably wondering what on earth is antipakjes avond and I am thinking how on earth do I explain this.. 
Karin Luiten, author of the cookbook on how to cook without mixes and packages (Koken zonder pakjes en zakjes) send a group of us a mail asking to participate this week in cooking without prepacked foods and mixes. Not sure how it is in your part of the world, but here convenience cooking seems to have grown dramatically over the last couple of years. Before we had maybe a few mixes, one for macaroni, one for spaghetti, one for mushroom sauce and a few others I can’t (and won’t remember).
These days there are tons of pre-mixes to choose from; you name a dish and there is a package with all the herbs, spices and sometimes even vegetables (in their dried form) in it. You have mixes for korma chicken, hokkien mie, mashed potatoes… well, you get the picture…
Red lentil, chickpea and chilli soup
Apart from the fact that all those packages are expensive, what you should really question yourself is; what is in it? Have you ever read one of the ingredient labels on those boxes? You wouldn’t believe the amount of stuff they put in that should not be in our foods. Unpronounceable. And we eat it. Without complaining. Day in and day out. I have to confess that Tom and I, at one point in our lives, also pretty much cooked out of packs every night. We went into the supermarket, got ourselves a pre-cut mix of vegetables, a mix with spices and sauce and some meat and we were good to go. Now that we cook a lot more, we use less packages every day. In fact; we don’t really like the taste of them anymore.
Most of them are too salty and make the food all taste the same basically. A couple of months ago we tried one of our favorites from years back; It’s called Hokkien Mie a
nd it is a box which has a package for sauce, a package for spices and a package of noodles. O and a package with some cashews in it. So the only thing you need to buy is chicken and a package of Asian greens, pre-cut and ready to throw in the pan. Mix it all together and you have a meal.
Fresh coriander/cilantro
What can I say; we totally hated it. We didn’t even finish our plates and we looked at eachother. How did we even like stuff like that before??
So this week is all about cooking from scratch and cooking with fresh ingredients, wherever possible. I was planning on doing one dish every day but not sure if I am able to make that happen but I’ll give it a try.
This dish also fits perfectly into the living leaner challenge from my dear friend Mona. (she has some pretty cool recipes under 10 euro’s on her site too) We have been pretty much staying under the 10 euro every day but I just didn’t write it down or take photos everyday. We’ve had a few splurges too… That usually happens in the weekend, I have to confess.
It’s a vegetarian dish so that always wins in terms of cost control. The total cost for this dish for 4 people (we cook it for two days) is roughly € 7,=. And it’s so ‘much’ because I had to buy a whole package of lentils, so those will last me a lot longer. I had cumin seeds, chilli flakes, onion and stock in the cupboard.
I’m eating this tonight with the Donna Hay Challenge recipe for next month… So I’m not gonna spoil the surprise and tell you what that is, but I did want to make sure I tested the recipe this time. No more recipe disasters! Technically; the lentils were in a pack for I sort of guessed that was not the issue.. 
Red lentil soup
Yield: 4
Prep Time: 10 mins
Cook Time: 25 mins
Total Time: 35 mins
Ingredients:
- 2 tsp cumin seeds
- large pinch of chilli flakes
- 1 tbsp of olive oil
- 1 red onion, chopped
- 140 gr split red lentils
- 850 m vegetable stock or water
- 400 gr can tomatoes, whole or chopped
- 200 gr chickpeas, rinsed and drained
- small bunch of coriander, roughly chopped
- 4 tbsp of Greek yogurt to serve
Directions:
- Heat a large saucepan and dry-fry the cumin seeds and chilli flakes for 1 min, or until they start to jump around the pan and release their aromas. Add the oil and onion, and cook for 5 mins. Stir in the lentils, stock and tomatoes, then bring to the boil. Simmer for 15 mins until the lentils have softened.
- Whizz the soup with a stick blender or in a food processor until it is a rough purée, pour back into the pan and add the chickpeas. Heat gently, season well and stir in the coriander. Finish with a dollop of yogurt and coriander leaves.
Recipe by BBC Good Food
O and in case you were wondering what all the fuss is with the anti-package evening and why specifically this week? We celebrate Sinterklaas and every year on December 5th it is officially Pakjesavond. The evening that all the kids receive loads of presents from Sinterklaas. It’s a bit like Santa but then different… In any case; the anti-pakjes avond is ofcourse a fun reminder of Sinterklaas this week. Are you still with me or have I lost you completely now? If you want to know more about Sinterklaas I suggest you take a look here or here.
Foto: Fotolia, Pakjes avond!
Appetizer
Asian
Bread
Breakfast
Desserts & other sweets
Healthy
The kind of soup I love to make! Cheap, yet so enjoyable. As a matter of fact, I’m making something very similar at the moment…
Cheers,
Rosa
[Reply]
Simone (junglefrog) — November 29th, 2011 at 15:53
I love simple and flavorful soups like this too. Easy and delicious!
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So my kinda soup for these cold months…love it!!
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Simone (junglefrog) — November 29th, 2011 at 15:53
And vegetarian just for you..;)
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Your home-made dish from First Principles sounds SOOOOO Much better! Those ready meals are rubbish, and so small too. I need two just to make one meal.
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Simone (junglefrog) — November 29th, 2011 at 15:53
Thanks Mark!
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Great recipe! I love chickpeas and lentils. This is a really good way to combine them into a healthy meal.
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I love this recipe Simone. We are still trucking along here with the ‘Living Leaner’ and I will continue the series into December for sure as I have a nice few meals and recipes lined up now. We too, splurge at the weekend, and for the last week have had two of our American friends here for Thanksgiving so it was feasting all round for everyone. I can’t wait to try this one out!
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Simone (junglefrog) — November 29th, 2011 at 15:58
It’s delicious. I’m sure you’re gonna love it. Yes we are also continuing the challenge as I think it’s a brilliant way to increase my creativity in the kitchen.
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Simone I commend you for taking this step and sharing it. I love the words “living leaner” too. I refuse to buy processed foods (outside of canned tomatoes from Italy). I’m very concerned about health and have now even found that our Whole Foods grocery is carrying organic fruit and veggies at reasonable prices, making it so much easier to live fresh. We are lucky because we have stores so close to us and can shop daily and not waste food. Bean soup is a great way to start your challenge. I also like the challenge of keeping it at a certain cost. I’ve been trying to focus that way too. We are sharing a steak, or spreading meals out to eat leftovers. Leftovers get a bad rap because who would want to eat processed food leftovers. But we find we enjoy a delicious meal eaten all over again at the next meal. Here in the states, it takes a committed effort to eat healthy.
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Simone (junglefrog) — November 29th, 2011 at 16:00
We have stores close by too. Unfortunately not all with the best produce but if I want it is all within travel distance so I guess I cannot complain. Yes we do use a few canned items such as beans and tomatoes but we try to cut our own vegetables as much as possible. Cutting ourselves as opposed to buying pre-cut and packaged mixed vegetables mixes…
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This sounds lovely Simone! Although package mixes can be convenient in a pinch we also try to stay away…food just tastes so much better made from scratch! And is not as difficult to do it either
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Thanks for the recipe Simone, I’m a veggie, and this soup sounds as if it is both tasty and filling. I am going to give it a try this weekend.
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The second red lentil soup I saw today, and I was already to make it tonight after that one so now I am for sure. I have some red lentil in my pantry all ready to use. I have been trying not to use pre made or prepackaged foods for awhile. I like the control of what goes in it. So nice to use fresh and local when you can. I like this post!
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The soup looks gorgeous and it have all my favorite things.. lentils chickpea and chili! i cant digest most processed stuff anymore.. so its all home cooked stuff for me!
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