Red Lentil Soup with Cumin and Fried Onions

Reem Acra contributed this recipe to Food and Wine. Overall, it was much better the second day. And I admit that I wasn't really paying attention when I skimmed the recipe to decide if I wanted to make it because I didn't realize until about half way through the process that the soup was basically pea soup made with red lentils. Don't get me wrong, it tasted good, and the second day was better as I said. 

2 things: use an immersion blender if you have one. And add some bacon crumbles for garnish. (You could go crazy and use a nice piece of ham hock in the stock base.)

Some other notes: If you are like my little family, we eat brown rice for the most part, which never cooks the same as recipes like this. So, don't worry about it and cook the brown rice like you would normally and add it at the end before you need to blend. As a consequence, you don't need to add the 2 cups of water when boiling the lentils. I added a cup of water during the blending.

2 cups red lentils (12 ounces), rinsed
1/4 cup short-grain rice, rinsed
3 medium onions—1 thinly sliced, 2 finely chopped
6 cups chicken stock
2 cups water
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
Kosher salt
1/4 cup vegetable oil
4 ounces rustic bread, torn into bite-size pieces

Preheat the oven to 375°. 

In a large saucepan, bring the red lentils, rice, sliced onion, chicken stock, water, cumin and allspice to a boil. Add a generous pinch of salt, cover and simmer over moderately low heat, stirring, until the lentils and rice are tender, about 20 minutes.

In a blender, puree the soup in batches until very smooth. Return the soup to the saucepan and season with salt. Add more water for a thinner consistency, if desired.

Meanwhile, in a large skillet, heat the oil until shimmering. Add the chopped onions and a generous pinch of salt and cook over moderate heat, stirring occasionally, until golden, 15 minutes. Remove from the heat.

Spread the bread on a rimmed baking sheet. Bake for 10 minutes, until nearly crisp; let cool slightly. Reheat the soup, if necessary. Ladle the soup into shallow bowls, top with the fried onions and croutons and serve.