Tomato porridge, thick for warming
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ingredients
1/2 kg vine tomatoes 150 g red lentils 2 pcs shallots to taste bay leaf, salt, garlic clove 1 pcs boiled potato a little oil, basil leaves
progress
I like recipes that use only two or three ingredients. This soup is one of them. It calls for proper home-grown, vineyard-fresh tomatoes. The kind that are so full of sunshine and juice that even raw and mashed in your fingers with salt and a drop of olive oil is enough for a piece of happiness.
Tomatoes contain lycopene, a carotenoid that is good for our bodies and immunity. It is a red pigment, an antioxidant needed to strengthen the body against cancer.
To thicken soups, I use the ingredients themselves, or legumes, cereals or crops like buckwheat, wheat or rice flakes. Now I’ve used potato, pre-cooked, set aside for the lox, which didn’t happen to be prepared because my grandmother had the foresight to bring us her homemade ones.
Parajka goes with just about every ingredient, added to red lentils it creates a smooth and delicious soup, porridge or “side dish” consistency. You can choose more processing options, add raw tomato to cooked lentils and blend until smooth. You will then have a more watery consistency. Or progress as shown in this recipe.
1.
Slowly fry the shallot and tomato with the chopped garlic in hot fat. The tomato will release its red colour and thicken itself. If you have fresh herbs, add them- thyme, sage, chopped rosemary. They are not in the description, but surely their addition will not spoil the taste, on the contrary- it will enhance it. These woody herbs are used for the base.
2.
Then add the washed lentils, mix together with the tomato base and cover with water. Just enough to make it 1cm from the mass. Add the bay leaf and salt, boil until the lentils are soft.