Spicy Lentil and Brussels Sprouts Soup

Total time: 45 minutes Serves: 4

Recipe: Nikki Dinki Cooking

I know it may seem like a lot of ingredients, but this recipe is worth it! A comforting, hearty, warming soup for a cold fall day.

Ingredients:

2 tablespoon olive oil
1 ½ cups yellow onion (1 medium onion), finely chopped
1 cup red pepper (1 large pepper), finely chopped
1 cup carrots (about 3 medium carrots), finely chopped
1 cup celery (2 stalks of celery), finely chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 ½ teaspoons kosher salt
¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
8 cups veggie or chicken stock
1 ½ cups brown or green lentils
1 pound Brussels sprouts (7-9 large Brussels sprouts), shredded (2.5 cups packed)
1 ½ tablespoons chipotle peppers in adobo sauce*
1 avocado, pitted + chopped into ¼- to ½-inch dice
Juice of 1 lime
2 tablespoons finely chopped cilantro

Directions:

Heat the oil in a large pot over medium heat, and add the onion, peppers, carrots, celery, garlic, 1 teaspoon of the salt, and the pepper. Cook this mixture until the veggies are tender—about 7 minutes.
Then add the stock, lentils, 1 ½ cup packed shredded Brussels Sprout, chipotles, and another 1 teaspoon of salt to the pot and bring to a simmer. Cook 35-40minutes until the lentils are al dente. Taste soup and add salt if necessary and more stock or water if soup is too thick
Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, toss the remaining 1 cup of Brussels sprouts, the avocado, lime juice, and remaining ½ teaspoon of salt together until well combined.
To serve, divide the soup into serving bowls and top it with the Brussels sprout mixture from Step 4 and some cilantro.

Puree or finely chop the entire can of chipotles in adobo and use 1.5 tablespoons for this recipe. Store the remaining in the bottom of a Ziploc bag in the freezer and cut off tablespoon amounts as needed.