Lentil soup recipe

Source: Transcribed from this video

Notes:

In the procedure section, I am pretty vague about timings. E.g. I often write "fry for a bit." This is done on purpose because you're actually waiting for whatever you're frying to develop certain properties (e.g. become aromatic, softer and less harsh, etc.) which can take a variable amount of time. It's something that you get a feel for with experience. Furthermore, this soup is pretty hard to mess up, and you won't get an intolerably different taste unless you outright just burn something.
The quantities of ingredients are also pretty imprecise for the same reason: you can change the amounts slightly and still get something resembling lentil soup. Unfortunately this means there's no macro information for the meal preppers. If I end up making this soup more, I might add precise weight measurements and count up the macros.

Ingredients:

Added to the soup:

• Red lentils (2 cups)
• Water (1L per cup of lentils). You can also use broth instead.
• An onion
• One butternut squash OR an equivalent amount of carrots or other similar pumpkin
• Salt
• Pepper (1/2 tsp per onion)
• Tumeric (1/2 tsp per onion)
• Cumin (1/2 tsp per onion)
• Flour (1 Tbsp per onion)
• Tomato paste (1/2 Tbsp per onion)
• Vegetable oil (1 Tbsp per cup of lentils)
• 1 Tbsp adjika (Can be omitted)

Served alongside the soup:

• Lemon wedges
• Chilli oil. I think Lao Gan Ma does just fine, but you can also make your own by frying some paprika and adjika in hot vegetable oil.
• Bread or toast
• Coriander leaves (a.k.a. cilantro) (optional)

Procedure:

• Dice the onion. It doesn't have to be too fine, because we will ultimately be blending the soup. Same for the pumpkin - remove the seeds and cut it into large cubes. If you're using a carrot instead of the pumpkin, you may need to cut it finer, since carrots are more firm.
• Add oil to the pan and fry the onion for a little bit until it's softer and slightly translucent. Add the flour and tumeric, then keep frying until there's a nutty smell. Then, add the pumpkin/carrot, pepper, cumin, adjika, and tomato paste. Stir this around until everything is well mixed and has had a bit of time to fry.
• Wash your lentils and add them into the pot. Don't immediately add the water; stir them around and let them fry for a bit, then pour in the water.
• As the soup comes to a boil, some foam will rise to the top. You should skim this off, but you don't have to if you're particularly lazy. Reduce the heat and let it simmer for around 10-15 minutes until the lentils are done.
• Using a stick blender or otherwise, blend the soup into a puree (It should be smooth without chunks). At this point, the soup is basically done and you can turn off the heat. Add salt to taste. The soup is served with a lemon wedge, but if you want you can add lemon juice at this point until the sourness is to your liking.