Recipe: Lentil Soup with Allspice

I was checking what’s on sale on Regency’s site, and the first item that was on the list was allspice. I use allspice for quite a few dishes from oven baked chicken drumsticks to tomato-based Indian curry. When I first heard of allspice, I thought it was a blend of spices. But actually, they are dried unripe berries! Once you smell its aroma, you know why they were given the name, allspice. This aromatic spice is very useful and I use this every time I make tofu burger. Today I like to share a recipe for tomato-based lentil soup using allspice.

Tips: Enjoy your own arrangement by adding sausage or meatball. Alternatively, you can add potatoes and parsley, or butternut squash as seen in the image below

Recipe: Lentil Soup with Allspice

Serving: 3

Ingredients

• 1 cup green lentils
• 1 small onion
• 10cm celery
• 5cm carrot
• 2 large ripen tomatoes (or 1 can of crushed tomatoes)
• 1 teaspoon allspice
• 2 bay leaves
• 2 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 teaspoon salt

Cooking instructions

1. Boil the lentils in water for about 15 minutes. The amount of water used should be 3 to 4 times the amount of lentils. Keep the water used for boiling for later use.
2. While the lentils are being boiled, mince the onion and cut the carrot, celery and fresh tomatoes into bite size.
3. Heat the olive oil in a cooking pot and cook the onion, carrot and celery over medium fire for about 6 minutes.
4. Add the boiled lentils along with 1 cup of water that was used to boil lentils. Add the tomatoes, allspice, bay leaves and salt.  Boil and remove scums using a strainer or spoon and simmer for at least 20 minutes over low fire. Add more water or salt if necessary during the simmering process.
5. Serve and enjoy!

This article was written by Chia.
I’m a freelance translator with background in biology. Upon meeting my future husband in Spain, I moved to Hong Kong to start our lives together. I’m still exploring what Hong Kong has got to offer