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Ancho Lentil Soup With Grilled Pineapple

September 21, 2010 9 Comments

Even though you make a chili powder here I promise this is a fast soup that is even a little fancy. The tart sweet pineapple “couples” well with the deep smoky chilies. It’s yummy and warm and comforting. The chilies are fairly mild so don’t worry that it will be too hot, unless you’re a real big wimp.

Ingredients
1 tablespoon cumin seeds
1 tablespoon coriander seeds
2 dried ancho chilies, seeds removed and ripped into bite sized pieces

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 large onion, diced small
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 Seranno pepper, seeded and chopped (add another if you like more heat)
2 bay leaves
1 teaspoon salt

2 cups green lentils, washed
7 to 8 cups vegetable broth or veg broth and water mixed

3 tablespoons of lime juice or to taste

Cooking spray
6 to 8 pineapple rings

slices of lime to serve
hot sauce to serve

Directions
We’re going to make our own ancho chili powder. Preheat a small frying pan over low-medium heat. Add the cumin seeds and ancho chili pieces and toast, stirring often, until fragrant and toasted, 3 to 5 minutes.

Transfer to a spice grinder (I use a clean coffee grinder) or small food processor and grind to a coarse powder. Some bigger pieces of chili are okay. Add the coriander seeds to the cumin and anchos and pulse a few times to crush them, you don’t want them ground to a powder, just broken up pretty well.

Preheat a big stock pot over medium heat. Saute the onions in the olive oil until transparent, 5 to 7 minutes. Add the serrano and garlic and cook for another minute. Add the spices and stir. Add the bay leaves, salt, lentils and 7 cups of water. Mix well. Bring up the heat, cover and bring to a boil. Once boiling lower heat to low-medium and let simmer for 1/2 an hour, stirring every now and again.

Meanwhile, heat up your grill pan on high heat or preheat a broiler. Spray your grill pan with cooking spray and grill the pineapple slices for 4 minutes on each side, or until grill lines appear. If using a broiler, cook on one side for 3 minutes and the other for about 2, until pineapple begins to brown and slightly carmelize.

Once the lentils are tender, add an extra cup of water/stock if you think it needs thinning. Add the lime juice and stir.

Remove the bay leaf. Use an immersion blender to puree about half the soup. If you don’t have an immersion blender, use a potato masher to mash it up a bit, until desired thickness is achieved. Taste for salt.

To serve: ladle into bowls and top with a pineapple ring, a slice of lime and dot with hot sauce.

Filed Under: Grilling, Recipe, Soups Tagged With: lentils

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. TONI

    March 19, 2012 at 2:36 am

    Isa, you are a genius! I am pregnant and even though this has been the warmest spring ever, I am craving soup and spice. What if I cannot find dried ancho chiles at my store tomorrow when I shop for this? Sadly I have not been able to find ancho chile powder, so I’m guessing the ancho chiles conumdrum will continue. AND my family members are big wimps. SO…help me feed my baby what it wants! Baby needs spicy soup!

    Reply
  2. Ivan

    April 7, 2012 at 10:44 pm

    I have made this for years (I must have caught it shortly after you posted it on the old website) and I love it. I’ve made it for Punxgivings and classy receptions and it’s gone over great with both crowds. Great with some pita chips, crackers or crusty bread. And if anything, it only gets better as a leftover!

    Where I am, I can’t always find serrano peppers, but it seems to work just as well with some sprinklings of cayenne pepper to your desired taste.

    Reply
  3. u

    September 23, 2012 at 5:06 pm

    replaced the anchos with chili powder and still tasted lovely! liked the pineapple idea 🙂

    Reply
  4. Jane

    December 11, 2013 at 12:39 am

    love it! though the recipe says to add 7 cups of water, which i did, and then realized i was probably supposed to use the stock here…? anyway, delish!

    Reply
  5. Will Smith

    December 6, 2022 at 9:54 am

    I have made this dish many times these days. The Pineapple really sets off the lentil. I love the ancho smoked flavor.

    Reply

Trackbacks

  1. Lentil Soup with Grilled Pineapple… « The Auspicious Squirrel says:
    November 5, 2010 at 9:44 pm

    […] the recipe for the soup is online (from Isa herself) but I did make a few changes, only because I seem to be incapable of making a […]

    Reply
  2. Client Profile: Jason, Week of 11/13 – 11/19 « A Plantstrong Life says:
    November 27, 2011 at 2:16 am

    […] made a great soup today, Ancho Lentil Soup With Grilled Pineapple. I’m generally not a soup person but this is amazing and vegan too. I think next time […]

    Reply
  3. Ancho Lentil Soup. | milehigheating says:
    January 13, 2013 at 11:53 pm

    […] Ancho lentil soup, from theppk […]

    Reply
  4. Adventures in International Markets: Black Bean Soup with Grilled Pineapple — The Coupon Project says:
    March 20, 2013 at 6:42 pm

    […] The black bean soup is adapted from one of my grandmother’s recipes. The grilled pineapple was inspired by this. […]

    Reply

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