Ingredients: 250 grams of lentils, green Italian pepper (pictured), large Baku tomato, carrot, potato tuber, small onion, 2 cloves of garlic, olive oil, salt, ground bell pepper, bay leaf.
Preparation:
Cut the carrots and potatoes into squares. Rinse the lentils, put them in a pot of water, add whole peppers, halved tomato, bay leaf. Put the saucepan over medium heat and, when the water starts to boil, add carrots, potatoes; salt. Stir the lentils occasionally to keep them from sticking to the bottom. Leave to simmer over medium heat for 45-75 minutes. The cooking time depends on the quality of the lentils and the water, so after 45 minutes of cooking, check the lentils regularly to make sure they are tender. If all the water has already boiled away and the lentils haven’t softened yet, add some water.
Meanwhile, preheat a skillet, pour oil into it and fry coarsely chopped garlic over low heat. Put the garlic and sauté the finely chopped onion in the same oil until golden brown. Remove the pan from heat, add a teaspoon of bell pepper and stir thoroughly. Transfer the resulting mixture and garlic to a blender and blend until smooth. If the mixture is too thick, add water. Put this pasta in the soup and stir well.
When the lentils have softened and the broth is thick and almost evaporated, remove the green pepper, bay leaf and tomato halves from the soup – they are no longer needed. The soup is ready.