Frugal Meatless Meals: Red Lentil and Squash Soup

File this one under “meals that taste 100x better than they look”…

Despite the fact that I buy red lentils in huge bags at my local Indian grocery, the only thing I’ve ever used them for is our favorite red lentil curry. I decided that had to change, so I tried yet another recipe from—can you guess?—Love Soup.

This dish is both wonderfully healthy and wonderfully flavorful, in addition to being wonderfully cheap! It has a really interesting taste to it, and I mean that in a great way. It’s a little spicy, and a little savory, but mostly it just has an excellent, flavorful zing to it. You really must try it! (The directions look way more complicated and time-consuming than they actually are. I promise).

Ingredients:
1 generous cup red lentils
Sea salt
Olive oil
1 small butternut squash, about 2 lbs
2 medium yellow onions, chopped
1 large yam or sweet potato
About 2 tbsp fresh ginger, minced
Heaping 1/2 tbsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes, plus more to taste
Black pepper
4-5 cups vegetable broth
1 lemon

Directions:
Preheat your oven to 375. Cut the butternut squash in half, scoop out the seeds, and place the halves cut-side down on a baking sheet. Roast the squash in the oven for 45 minutes, or until soft.

Place the lentils in a soup pot with 4 cups of water and a sprinkling of sea salt. Boil them gently for about 20 minutes, until just soft. Meanwhile, saute the onions with olive oil and a big pinch of salt over medium heat, until they are soft and beginning to brown. Peel and dice the sweet potato and set aside.

When the lentils are tender, add the sauteed onions, sweet potato, ginger, cumin, red pepper flakes, and vegetable broth. Simmer everything together, covered, for about 25 minutes. When the roasted squash is ready, scoop it from its skin and add it to the soup, stirring well. Cook until everything is nice and soft. Carefully use a potato masher to crush the sweet potato chunks and more fully incorporate them into the soup. Add black pepper, salt to taste, and the fresh juice of one lemon.

Garnish with olive oil (its fruity taste complements the soup very well!) or croutons. I combined the two approaches and made some olive oil-doused croutons. Yum. Serves 6.

For more meatless meals, please check out the rest of my Frugal Meatless Meals series. You should also visit Meatless Monday’s recipe archive.