Fakes – Traditional Brown lentil soup

Cretan- Greek style

By Elina Vogiatzaki

Brown lentil soup or Fakes in Greek, is a staple dish in the Mediterranean kitchen. I remember as a child we used to have it on our table almost every week. Guess what, I used to hate eating lentils and I was always asking for a fried egg instead. However, after growing older, I understood the health benefits of this dish and I decided to train my children to eat this food. Carrots played a big role in this due to their color and their sweet taste.

To be honest, I have also slightly modified the traditional recipe, adding my own little twist (carrots and oregano) in it. I am also not sautéing the onions and I do not use canned tomato paste. I prefer a slow cooking process and I only use fresh tomatoes to make the dish real, cleaner and healthier.

What I also like about this recipe, is that I can use the leftovers to prepare veggie burgers or serve them with potato puree the next day.

Preparation: 20min
Cooking time: 40min
Difficulty: Easy

Recipe

Ingredients for 4-6 people

2 big onions

3 fresh tomatoes
1 tbsp. of tomato paste (optional)
500g brown or green dried lentils
3 carrots
4 bay leaves
4 cloves of garlic
100ml olive oil
2 litters of water
1 generous pinch of oregano
Peels of a whole bio orange
1 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. pepper

Instructions

Boil the lentils in 1l of water for 10min and throw the water, using a strainer.
Chop 1 onion and the carrots.
Grind the tomatoes, together with the other onions and the garlic into a fine paste.
Add the boiled lentils, 1l of water, the bay leaves, the carrots, the chopped onion, the tomato paste and the ground paste and boil them in low fire until the lentils are well cooked.
Switch off the fire; add salt and pepper to taste, the olive oil, the oregano and the orange peels and let it stay with closed lid for 20 – 30min.
Before serving it remove the orange peels.

Tips

You can also make this soup without using tomato. It will become equally delicious.
After serving it add 1-2 tbsp. of red grape vinegar and some extra fresh black pepper.
For a low gluten and a bit more filling option you can replace the bread with rice.
For children: Serve it as a soup with small pieces of fresh bread in it or mixed with boiled rice.
For adults: You can enjoy it as a soup and accompany it with bread, Kalamata olives in vinegar (hyperlink), or a salty fish like smoked trout, sardines, lacquer. It also goes well with kalamaria or octapus and a cold white wine.
For busy moms: You can double the cooking portion and freeze it in small bowls. It will still taste very well even after you defrost it.

Nutritional Value

Check here the health benefits of some plants that this recipe contains:

Oregano – The mountain joy