Colombian Lentil Soup with Beef

Name: Colombian Lentil Soup with Beef
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 30 min
Total time: 40 min
Ingredients: 1 cup lentils (brown lentils; red or split ones collapse into purée); 5 cups beef broth or water; 1 onion, finely chopped; 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped; 1 large carrot, diced; 2 potatoes, peeled and diced; 1/2 lb beef, cut into cubes (a cut for stewing: chuck or shin, not steak); 1 teaspoon ground cumin; 2 tablespoons oil; Salt and pepper, to taste; Cilantro (chopped, off the heat at the end)

Brown lentils cooked in beef broth with carrot, potato, beef and cumin. No soaking needed, forty minutes, and it is a full meal rather than a starter. Serves four.

Total: 40

JUMP TO RECIPE

Brown lentils cooked in beef broth with carrot, potato, cubed beef and cumin. Forty minutes, no soaking, and it is lunch rather than a first course.

Lentils need no soaking

This is the practical difference between lentils and every other pulse, and the reason this is a weekday dish while beans are a Sunday one.

Beans and chickpeas need a night in water. Lentils go straight from the packet into the pot and are tender in half an hour.

Brown lentils, not red

The recipe wants lentils that hold their shape in a soup with visible pieces of carrot, potato and beef in it.

Brown or green lentils do that. Red or split lentils break down completely into a purée, which makes a good soup of a different kind but is not this one. They are not interchangeable and the packet does not always make it obvious.

Which beef

It cooks for thirty minutes in the same pot as the lentils, which is not long enough to tenderise a tough cut and long enough to ruin a tender one.

Chuck or shin cut into small cubes is the right answer: small pieces give the connective tissue enough surface area to break down in the time available. A steak cut into cubes will simply go grey and chewy.

Thirty minutes, not more

Lentils go from firm to tender to mush faster than most people expect, and there is no way back. Start checking at twenty-five minutes.

The soup also thickens considerably as it sits, because the lentils keep absorbing. Loosen it with hot broth rather than water, or the seasoning falls flat.

Cilantro at the end

Off the heat, stirred in just before serving. Cilantro boiled in a pot for half an hour loses its smell and turns a dull grey-green, and the smell is most of what it contributes.

More pulses

Stewed lentils — the thicker version, over rice.
Lentil burgers — for leftovers.
Colombian beans — the Sunday pot.
Colombian beans and pulses — what to buy abroad.

Lentil Soup FAQ

Do lentils need soaking?

No, and that is what makes this a weekday dish. Beans and chickpeas need a night in water; lentils go straight from the packet into the pot and are tender in about thirty minutes.

Which lentils should I use?

Brown or green ones, which hold their shape. Red and split lentils break down into a purée, which makes a fine soup of a different kind but not this one with its visible pieces of carrot and potato.

What cut of beef works here?

Chuck or shin cut into small cubes. Thirty minutes is not long enough to tenderise a large piece of tough meat, but small cubes have enough surface area to give way. A tender cut like steak will just turn grey and chewy.

Why did my soup get so thick?

Lentils keep absorbing liquid as the soup stands, so it thickens noticeably within an hour and even more overnight. Loosen it with hot broth rather than water, so you do not dilute the seasoning.

Can I leave the meat out?

Yes. Use vegetable broth in place of the beef broth and the soup works perfectly well, though it will be lighter. Adding a little more cumin compensates for the depth the meat was providing.