A few days ago, my husband savored a brothy lentil and rice soup at a local Italian cafe. That inspired us to make another version of lentil and rice soup, and we tried this Colombian recipe: https://www.mycolombianrecipes.com/vegetarian-lentil-and-rice-soup-sopa-de-lentejas-y-arroz/
Our modifications: first, we finely minced the 1/2 red bell pepper (seeded and quartered) and carrot (roughly cut into 3″ chunks) in a Braun handheld blender, then added 2 vine-ripened tomatoes (quartered). When adding the vegetable mixture to the soup, we omitted strained out the tomato juice and discarded it.
Second, we used 9 cups of no-salt chicken broth instead of vegetable broth (so while the recipe is vegetarian, ours is plant-forward).
Third, we slightly increased the Goya Sazon con Azafran from 1 tsp to the full packet (about 1.25 tsp). We also doubled the ground cumin from 1/2 tsp to 1 tsp.
Fourth, based on our pantry, we used extra long grain white rice. (Also, we initially were skeptical that 1/2 cup lentils and1/3 cup rice was sufficient for 9 cups of broth; in the end, it turned out to yield a nice, brothy ratio of contents to liquid so we are glad we didn’t veer off the recipe.)
Finally, we garnished with hardboiled egg (1/2 egg per serving) and aji (we made this recipe: https://piglettedc.wordpress.com/2024/09/08/colombian-aji-fresh-condiment/). We almost skipped the aji, but it provided refreshing brightness and balance to the soup (so we highly recommend it). We omitted the avocado this time.
This recipe was delicious, but it took more than an hour to execute. (Sept. 2024)
Cooking Adventures 