Middle Eastern Style Lentil Soup

Well I satisfied my craving for a bowl of rich and flavorsome soup last night, after writing the previous post. I often make this soup when I have a lot of Silver beet in the garden but this time I made it with my own frozen Spinach. I used chicken stock but if you want the recipe suggests vegetable stock so if you are vegetarian you can use that. I like to garnish the soup with good Greek yogurt that has very finely chopped mint added to it. The spices are quite subtle and the sharpness of the lemon juice adds to the great flavor.

Middle Eastern Style Lentil Soup
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 large red Spanish onion finely chopped
2 cloves garlic crushed
2 teaspoons ground cumin
2 teaspoons ground turmeric
2 teaspoons sweet paprika
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3 cups red lentils
About 1 1/2 litres vegetable stock
1/3 cup lemon juice
1/3 cup fresh chopped mint
500g English Spinach

Method:
Heat the oil in a large pan, add onion, garlic and spices and cook gently until the onion is soft.
Add lentils and stock, simmer for about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally or until lentils are soft.
Stir in the spinach, mint and lemon juice and simmer for a further 5 minutes or until spinach is soft. This will take slightly longer if you are using Silver beet. Serve with a garnish of Greek yogurt and finely chopped fresh mint.
Enjoy!