Red Lentil Soup with Lemon Mint Yogurt

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1 large yellow onion, diced
• 3 tablespoons tomato paste, or more to taste
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt, or more to taste
• 4 cloves garlic, crushed
• 2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 0.125 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1 quart chicken broth
• 1 cup red lentils
• 1 rib celery, diced
• 1 large carrot, diced
• 6 leaves fresh mint, thinly sliced
• 1 pinch salt
• 3 tablespoons plain Greek yogurt, or more to taste
• 0.5 lemon, juiced
• 0.5 teaspoon lemon zest

Steps

1. Melt butter in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Add onion, tomato paste, and salt to melted butter. Cook, stirring often, until onion softens and tomato paste turns a deep brick red or brown color, 5 to 7 minutes.
2. Add garlic, cumin, and cayenne pepper; cook and stir for 2 minutes. Stir in broth and bring to a boil. Stir in lentils, celery, and carrot. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer, stirring occasionally, until lentils and vegetables are very tender, 30 to 40 minutes.
3. Meanwhile, make lemon-mint yogurt: Grind mint and salt in a mortar and pestle to a paste. Add yogurt, lemon juice, and zest; stir together until combined. Refrigerate until ready to serve.
4. Taste soup for seasoning. Use an immersion blender to purée about 1/2 of the soup to achieve a creamier texture. Serve hot with spoonfuls of lemon-mint yogurt.