Bulgur and Red Lentil Soup with Mint
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I lived in Konstanz on Lake Constance in the very south of Germany during my studies - I’ve been living in other cities for almost ten years now, but my time in Konstanz has left its mark on me and I often think back to it. One of these memories is the “Suppengrün”: A small restaurant in the old town that specializes in soups and salads. The focus was on affordable lunch - but if you came in the evening after a certain time, everything was even cheaper, so perfect for a student’s wallet. I spent a few weeks there one winter and the warmth and light of the Suppengrün was just the thing for a cold, foggy, dark winter by the lake.
When it finally became clear that I would be moving away, I started thinking about what souvenirs I wanted to take with me. On one of our last visits to ‘Suppengrün’, my girlfriend and I spotted the “Suppengrün” cookbook - just over 100 pages, ring binder, a copy was on sale at the counter. I remember thinking for a long time whether I should really buy it - it cost just under €30 and “only” contained soups. In the end, I persevered and bought a copy - and it is now one of our most used cookbooks. The recipes are fantastic and cover everything from classic Swabian dishes to international cuisine. I’ve never seen the cookbook anywhere else and I’m very glad that the frugal student decided to buy it.
Bulgur and red lentil soup is one of the recipes from the soup cookbook that we make most often. It’s the perfect comforting and tasty weeknight meal. The tahini gives the soup a slightly creamy texture, while the spices and mint provide a very good balance of spice and freshness. You may be tempted to leave out the mint: Please do use it, it gives the soup that certain something. If you don’t have any dried mint at home, you can simply cut open a bag of mint tea…
If you’re in Konstanz, be sure to visit the Suppengrün! Insider’s tip: there’s usually a soup that sounds a bit strange - it’s often the best and will surprise you in a positive way (my personal example: banana and minced meat soup - sounds weird, but was great).
Recipe #
Bulgur and Red Lentil Soup with Mint
30 minutes
2 portions
The soup is very easy to reheat, and we usually make enough leftovers for another quick meal.
Ingredients #
- 1 small onion
- 1 tablespoon oil
- 25 g tomato purée
- 50 g bulgur
- 50 g red lentils
- 600 ml vegetable stock
- 3 g dried mint
- 1 pinch of pepper
- 1 pinch of cumin
- 1 pinch of cayenne pepper
- 1 tablespoon of a hot or spicy sauce, e.g., ajvar or harissa
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon tahini
Directions #
- Finely dice the onion. Fry in a pan with the oil until soft.
- Add the tomato purée to the pan and fry briefly. Add the vegetable stock.
- Bring the soup to a boil. Reduce the heat and add the lentils and bulgur.
- Add the dried mint and season with pepper, cumin, and cayenne pepper. Cover and simmer until the lentils and bulgur are tender (about 15 minutes).
- In a cup or bowl, mix together the ajvar (or harissa or another spicy sauce), tahini, and lemon juice. Add a ladle of soup and mix, then pour back into the soup pot. If there is any residue in the cup or bowl, simply repeat the process with another ladle of soup. Stir again and season to taste before serving.
Carbon Footprint #
In total, two servings of bulgur and red lentil soup have an estimated carbon footprint of 1152 g.
This ranks it number 20 out of 56 recipes published on the blog so far in terms of estimated carbon footprint.
The estimated emissions are therefore still slightly better than the average of the recipes.For most of the ingredients, there is very little difference between the proportion of mass of the ingredients and the proportion of the carbon footprint. One small exception is tomato paste, which has a relatively high carbon footprint: This is because it takes about 7 kg of fresh tomatoes to make 1 kg of triple concentrated tomato purée. However, as tomato paste is usually used relatively sparingly, this does not have a major impact on the overall carbon footprint of the bulgur and red lentil soup.
| ingredient | carbon footprint per kg | carbon footprint (in g) for 2 servings | % of ingredients | % of CO2 emissions |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Onion | 0.2 | 12.0 | 7% | 1% |
| Oil | 3.2 | 32.0 | 1% | 3% |
| Tomato purée | 4.3 | 107.5 | 3% | 10% |
| Bulgur | 0.6 | 30.0 | 6% | 3% |
| Red lentils | 1.2 | 60.0 | 6% | 6% |
| Vegetable stock | 1.4 | 816.0 | 71% | 75% |
| Mint (dried) | 1.1 | 3.4 | 0% | 0% |
| Pepper | 1.1 | 1.1 | 0% | 0% |
| Cumin | 1.1 | 1.1 | 0% | 0% |
| Cayenne pepper | 1.1 | 0.6 | 0% | 0% |
| Ajvar | 0.2 | 2.6 | 1% | 0% |
| Lemon juice | 0.6 | 9.3 | 2% | 1% |
| Tahini | 0.9 | 12.8 | 2% | 1% |
| Cooking: 20min | 63.4 | 6% |
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