Grandmother’s Lentil and Tomato Soup
My grandmother is the most incredible cook. She has been cooking her entire life and learned from her mother, my great-grandmother. She is so knowledgeable and has been doing it for so long that more often than not, she doesn’t reference any recipes. She knows them all by heart. I don’t think she even owns measuring cups or spoons because she is so good at estimating amounts of ingredients, including spices.
One of my grandmother’s favorite things to make, which is also one of my favorite dishes of hers, is lentil and tomato soup. This is one of the dishes that she learned to make with my great-grandmother growing up. The recipe has been in my family for many generations, so it is more than just a delicious soup. It means a lot to my family personally to maintain the recipe just the way is has been made in my family for so many years.
Usually, my grandmother would make this soup for the family on special occasions. Oftentimes these occasions were birthdays. Every year I would request that she make it for me on my birthday.
I remember one year in particular where this turned into a bit of a catastrophe.
I had requested a couple of weeks in advance that my grandmother make her special lentil and tomato soup for my birthday, as I would do every year. However, this time I wanted to make it with her. I had been eating this soup for so many years and I had no idea how to prepare it. I figured now was as good of a time as ever to make it with her, so that I could continue making it for myself long into the future. Maybe I would even teach my kids how to make it someday. I wanted it to remain in the family.
My grandmother was thrilled that I wanted to learn to make the soup with her. She even invited me to join her at the market to go shopping for all of the necessary ingredients.
We went to the market the day off because my grandmother is firm believer in cooking with ingredients that are fresh as possible. The outdoor market we visited was lively on that warm Friday morning. The smell of spices was drifting through the air. There were dozens of stands with all sorts of foods for sale: meats, vegetables and fruits, and spices.
My grandmother knew this market well and she immediately took off in the direction of her favored spices stand. There we purchased cumin, ground coriander, black pepper, salt, and cayenne pepper, while my grandmother chatted with the shop owner, whom she obviously knew from her years of shopping there.
After purchasing our spices for the soup, we headed in the direction of the vegetable and fruit stands. Here we purchased onions, tomatoes, olive oil, lentils, and lemons. Once again, my grandmother knew the shop owner and chatted away while she allowed me to test my skill at finding the ripest ingredients. I hoped I had done a good enough job.
The final thing we needed for the soup was rice, but my grandmother always has a lot of rice on hand at her home, so we did not need to purchase any. We stopped at her place on the way back in order to pick up the rice before heading back to my house where we would began preparing the soup.
When we got back to my house we immediately unpacked the car and began to prepare the kitchen for the cooking. On my grandmother’s orders, I got out a frying pan, and large pot that would be used to cook the soup in. Meanwhile, she got out the appropriate knives and a cutting board.
When we had laid out all of the ingredients for the soup, I have to admit that I was surprised with how little went into it. It always seemed to have such delicate and complex flavors. I had imagined there must be much more to it then what was laid out in front of me. My grandmother assured me that oftentimes minimalist recipes are the most delicious because the flavors don’t fight with one another, but rather blend together in a perfect harmony. Not to mention the prep and cooking is easier and less time consuming.
As we were beginning to prepare the ingredients for the meal, my family started to arrive: my two aunts and uncles and my cousins. My family usually celebrates birthdays together as a large event. My grandmother and I exchange greetings with them before she quickly rushed them out of the kitchen so that we could get back to business.
The first thing we had to do was get the lentils cooking. So I placed them in pot of water and turned on the stove. Once the water came to boil, I covered it. The lentils needed to cook in the boiling water for 25 minutes.
While the lentils were cooking, we began to prepare the rest of the ingredients. My grandmother had diced the onions and minced the garlic while I was prepping the lentils. Those went into a pan to be sautéed with olive oil until golden brown. Once the onions and garlic started to caramelize slightly, we added the rest of the needed ingredients, which included all of the spices and diced tomatoes. This mixture of vegetables and spices needed to be sautéed in the pan for an additional five minutes. The smells that were beginning to fill the kitchen were wonderful.
After the lentils finished cooking in the boil water, it was time to bring it all together. We added the sautéed vegetables to pot of water and lentils, followed by the rice and stirred all of this together before adding the rice. The soup then needed to be simmered on low heat for an additional twenty minutes or so in order to cook the rice.
Finally, the soup was finished. My grandmother corralled everyone into the dining room where my cousins and siblings had set the table to prepare for the meal. She announced to everyone what a big help I had been in preparing the meal and how she was delighted to share her cooking knowledge with me so that the recipe may remain in our family for years to come.
It was time to eat. I went back into the kitchen to grab the pot of soup to serve everyone. As I was walking back into the dining room, pot in hand, I tripped. You can imagine the scene. The pot flew out of my hands and went skittering across the tile floor. There was soup everywhere. I was mortified.
My grandmother immediately consoled me and urged my cousins and siblings to help me clean up the mess I had just made. Afterwards, we all had a good laugh about it, even though I was personally devastated and upset that the meal I had just prepared would not be enjoyed by the family. Instead of eating soup, we ordered take-out pizza. It was not my grandmother’s homemade lentil and tomato soup, but it was still delicious.
In the end, I still learned how to make my grandmother’s soup and I have made it many, many times to this day.
