Tomato Soup with Canned Beans and Lentils

First, start with lentils, as they need to be boiled until tender. Gently sort them to remove any stones. Then rinse them with cold water. While I'm doing all of these preparations, the kettle starts to boil. Place the lentils in a pot, pour boiling water over them, and simmer on low heat for approximately 20-30 minutes. Many sources suggest a perfect ratio of lentils to water as 1:2. Well, I'm not sure, but if I poured 240 grams of water over 120 grams of lentils, they would burn in half an hour, having absorbed all the water... So I recommend using about 400 grams of water, just to be safe. If needed, you can always add more water.

Next, let's prepare the meatballs. I prefer using pork, but you can use a 50/50 mix of beef and pork, or any combination you like. It's essential to grind the meat yourself, which I strongly recommend. Mix the ground meat with half of a peeled onion. For seasoning, add half a teaspoon each of dried oregano and dried basil. Then add salt, pepper, and finely ground breadcrumbs. Mix everything thoroughly until the mixture becomes sticky. Heat a frying pan, add a tablespoon of vegetable oil, and place the meatballs in it. There's no need to reduce the heat. If you want them to remain somewhat round, you should quickly move the pan back and forth. The meatballs will roll and fry at the same time, keeping their shape. Cook them for a couple of minutes until they develop a light golden color. Transfer them to a plate lined with paper towels to remove any excess grease, or as desired.

Dice the remaining half of the onion into small cubes and finely chop the garlic. In the same pan where the meatballs were cooked, add another two tablespoons of vegetable oil and add the onion. Sauté for a minute or two, then add the garlic. Cook for about 30 seconds, and it's ready.

Open a can of peeled tomatoes, along with their juice. Use the entire contents of the can. If the tomatoes are not crushed, you can slightly crush them in the pan where you added the onion and garlic mixture. Bring it to a boil, add a tablespoon of tomato paste, stir, reduce the heat, and simmer for a couple of minutes.

Add the onion and tomato mixture to the pot with the cooked lentils. Blend everything with an immersion blender until smooth.

We don't need a smooth cream-like consistency, so a couple of minutes of blending will achieve the desired homogeneity.

Put the pot back on the stove, add water to the desired consistency of the soup. Personally, considering that some of the water is lost during the lentil cooking (400 grams), I needed to add another 800 grams, which made a total of 1.2 liters. If you happen to have broth (I had 200 grams frozen), you can replace an equal amount of water with it. I'm not talking about chemical cubes, it's better not to use them, so let it be water. Bring to a boil. Open the can of beans and drain the water. Add it to the boiling soup along with our meatballs. Bring it to a boil again, cover with a lid, reduce the heat and simmer for about 5 minutes. Then add salt, pepper, ground cumin (also known as cumin) and cook for another five minutes. That's it, taste it, if needed, adjust the salt, and the soup is ready.

Since I love cilantro and it goes well with this dish, I add it when serving. If you don't like it, you can easily replace it with parsley. You can also add a clove of garlic, passed through a press (that's what my husband does), and simply sprinkle with some more pepper. Very fragrant and hearty soup! Enjoy and bon appétit!