Lebanese Red Lentil Soup Recipe

Mr T. and I frequent a terrific little Lebanese falafel place. The food is fresh, delicious and surprisingly cheap. I love lentil soup so I decided to give their red lentil soup a try one day.
Mr. T turned his nose up at my initial offer to try the soup.
But after much oohing and ahhing on my part, he decided it was wise to give it a shot. Now he loves the soup too and we'll spilt one alongside our pitas when we're super hungry. That delicious and slightly spicy red lentil soup was the inspiration for this recipe.  We had some for dinner last night and T called me today to see if there was anymore soup left. I guess that means it's really good. I hope you enjoy it as much as we do.

Red Lentil Soup Recipe - Lebanese Style
1 lb. red lentils 
1 medium red onion
3-4 carrots
3 cloves of garlic
10 cups of water
2 fresh tomatoes, pureed in blender (or use canned pureed tomatoes if you like)
2-3 cubes of Knorr tomato with chicken bouillon (if you can't find it use plain chicken)
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper (adjust to your tolerance for heat)
1 1/2 tsp cumin
5-6 dashes of Tabasco
1/2 lemon, squeezed
Goya light salt to taste
Fresh ground black pepper


Soak lentil for 30 minutes to 1 hour. Rinse well.
Chop onion, carrots and garlic. I use a food processor to make life easy. Sauté onions, garlic and carrots in a touch of olive oil over medium heat until tender. Add lentils and water. (I like the soup a bit on the thin side but if you prefer a thick lentil soup add less water.) Put this mixture over a low boil for about 15 minutes until the lentils start to soften. Add tomato puree, bouillon, cayenne pepper, cumin and Tabasco. Simmer soup for about 30-40 minutes or until lentil are completely soft. Make sure you stir the soup every few minutes or you run the risk of burning the bottom of the soup. Add lemon, salt and pepper to taste.