Greek Lentil Soup

This is one of my favorite soups. Absolutely suitable for every season, easy to make, and incredibly tasty! I'm also emotionally particularly attached to it since my very special Finnish friend give it to me – Yes, a nice and lovely Finnish woman keen on Greek cuisine.

I still have the email she sent me with this recipe, the first email of a very, very long list of many others that followed. I still remember when she wrote on FB that she had prepared her children's favorite soup. I was actually pretty perplexed on how a lentil soup could be so loved by her children. I had tried many lentil soups in the past, but none of them really intrigued me, and I was really curious to know what could have made her soup so good; therefore, even if we weren't yet so close at that time, I decided to ask her the recipe of her special lentil soup. Well... her children were right! I'm almost sure that the ingredient that makes the difference in this recipe is the stick of cinnamon. It gives such a peculiar taste to the soup that you will love it, too... I'm sure about it. Try it and let me know if I'm wrong.

Need to thank Lady A. once more for sharing it with me.

Btw, in the recipe she gave me the amount of onions and garlic is different. Use 3 chopped onions and 2 cloves of garlic if you want to follow the original recipe and if you'd like to serve a soup richer in onion. :)

The ingredients listed are enough for 2 maybe 3 people. It depends if you want to serve it as a main dish or just as a starter. I normally double all the ingredients except the stick of cinnamon, just to make sure that there will be enough soup for everyone, and for everyone I mean my husband and me. Yes, we really like it! :)

INGREDIENTS:

150 g green lentils
1 medium onion
1 garlic glove
about 400 g tomatoes (minced or from the can)
1 cinnamon stick
salt
about 1 tbs white or red vinegar

COOKING DIRECTIONS:

Boil the lentils in salty water about 20 minutes. Remove the remaining water and set the lentils aside.

Chop the onion, garlic, and tomatoes (if needed).

Sauté the chopped onion in some olive oil paying attention that it doesn't turn brown. Add the tomatoes, garlic, and cinnamon stick. Add the lentils and about 1 liter of water – add less water if you want it less liquidy. It all depends on the consistency you'd like your soup to have and also on how long you are going to cook it. Then, add the wine or vinegar, and some salt.

Cook the soup for about 1 hour or 2 (you might need to add some water if you let it simmer for a long time) if you want it to become very tasty. But if you are in a hurry 15 minutes are already enough to obtain a good soup. The soup is even more tasty if you serve it with some feta cheese and one or two slices of fresh bread.