Soy Sauce Lentil Soup

Easy, delicious, and vegan without even trying!

Serves 2. I usually triple this recipe.

Ingredients

• 1 cup rice
• 1 cup green or French lentils
• 2 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 tbsp mirin (sweet rice wine)
• 1 tbsp vegetable oil
• about 1 carrot, diced
• about 1 stalk of celery, diced
• something spicy: red pepper flakes, spicy chilis, or chili oil

Optional-ish Ingredients

These are not strictly required, but make the result more delicious.

• onion or scallion, diced
• kale or some other dark leafy green, stems removed, cut into ~1 inch strips or squares
• mushrooms, sliced

Procedure

1. Put all ingredients, except the rice, mushrooms, and leafy greens, in a large pot.
2. Saute things a bit, then cover with boiling water and bring to a simmer. The lentils will expand as they cook; add more water as needed to keep them covered. You'll end up needing about 4 cups of water per cup of dry lentils.
3. Start cooking the rice.
4. Cook the mushrooms in a pan: dry-saute them until they start to shrink a bit and change color; then add a bit of oil. After 15 minutes, add a splash of soy sauce and mirin and continue to cook.
5. When the soup has been simmering for 30 minutes or so, add the greens and cook for 10-15 minutes more.
6. Add mushrooms to the soup.
7. Divide rice into bowls and ladle the soup over it.

Lentils lower your blood sugar; to counteract that, I recommend pairing this recipe with ice cream.