Hearty Meat and Lentil Soup

Tags: soup, hearty, lentils, meat

Ingredients

• 1 lb lamb or beef, diced
• 0.5 cups flour
• 3 Tbsp margarine, butter, or oil
• 3 medium onion, finely chopped
• 2.5 stalks celery, finely chopped
• 6 large tomatoes, seeded and diced
• 2 tsp turmeric
• 1 tsp black pepper
• 1 Tbsp salt
• 2 tsp ginger
• 2 tsp paprika
• 0.5 bunch fresh cilantro, finely chopped
• 0.5 bunch parsley, finely chopped
• 0.75 cups lentils
• 1 15oz can garbanzo beans, rinsed, drained, and peeled
• 1 cups small pasta (vermicelli, d'italini, or tubettini)
• 2 whole eggs, beaten
• water (as needed)
• fresh cilantro (optional) (for garnish)
• lemon wedges (optional) (for serving)

Steps

1. Heat oil over medium high heat in heavy bottom soup pot.
2. Coat diced meat in flour. The pieces should be about the size of dice.
3. Brown the meat in the oil, then add the onion.
4. Once the onion is golden, but before browning, add celery.
5. Once celery is softened, add tomatoes. Add small cup of water if necessary to prevent sticking to pan bottom.
6. Once tomatoes are cooked, add in seasonings, cilantro, parsley and lentils. Add enough water to cover all ingredients by about 2 inches.
7. Cover pot with lid and simmer for about 45 minutes to an hour, until lentils are fully cooked, stirring occasionally.
8. Pop the garbanzo beans out of their skins and add the beans to the pot. Simmer for 10-15 more minutes.
9. Add small pasta and simmer 10-15 minutes more.
10. While stirring the pot, slowly add the beaten eggs, as you would if making egg drop soup.
11. Once the egg is fully cooked (about 2 minutes), turn off heat and let rest for about 30 minutes before serving.

Notes

Tips:

• Coating the meat in flour at the beginning allows the flour to be fully cooked to thicken the soup
• Break vermicelli or angel hair pasta into ~1" pieces, or use d'italini or tubettini pasta
• When peeling garbanzo beans, the skins can be popped out easily
• Serve with garnish of additional fresh cilantro and lemon wedges if desired