This is the soup of my husband’s childhood. His grandma (Oma) in Germany would make it for him and to make a good lentil soup (just like Oma made) was something I was challenged to recreate. Thankfully the recipe has now been passed on to me and it is now a regular recipe in our house, I make a big batch at least once per month.  The good thing about this sort of soup is that it can be quite forgiving so you can have a play around with the ingredients and the quantities and it will pretty much always turn out well.

Time: 1hr 30

Serves: A big batch of about 8 servings

Ingredients

• 300g green lentils

• 8 small white potatoes or about 4 normal sized ones

• 3-4 carrots

• Approx 5 rashers smoked bacon, diced

• 1 large leek or 2 small ones

• 1 onion (optional)

Instructions

1. Put the lentils in a pot and add water so that the lentils are well covered, boil for about 3 minutes then discard the water (this step removes bitterness).

2. Add new water and bring to the boil (about 1 litre).

3. Peel and dice the potatoes and add to the pot.

4. Peel and dice the carrots then add to the pot.

5. Fry the bacon in a frying pan and if you want, you can dice and add an onion here too. When the bacon has browned, add to the soup.

6. Slice and dice the leek, rinse thoroughly (to remove dirt hidden between the layers of the leeks), then add to the pot.

7. Boil until lentils, potatoes and carrots are softened. Likely about 15-30 minutes. Add more water if needed.

8. Season with salt and pepper (adding the salt too early keeps the lentils tough, so best left till the end).

9. Use a masher or hand blender to blend the soup to the consistency you like.

Tips

This soup is nice served with crusty bread and with some frankfurters chopped into it. I am told by my mother-in-law that traditionally you would add a German sausage called mettwurst but this is hard to come by in the UK. I have tried cooking some bratwurst separately and adding this and it was a nice addition.

Traditionally you can also add about a teaspoon or white wine vinegar to your bowl of soup which does give it a nice sharpness.