"Soul Soup": Simple Monastery Recipe with Beans and Lentils

There are recipes that are not just food, but comfort. Monastery soup with beans and lentils is just that - simple, lean and deeply satisfying. In monastery kitchens, such dishes are cooked slowly, with few products, but with a lot of patience. The good news is that you can easily bring this taste home.

Ingredients (4–6 servings):
"1 cup dry beans"
"1 cup lentils" (brown or green)
"1 large onion"
"1 carrot"
"1 small celery root" or piece (optional)
"1 red pepper" (fresh or dried)
"2–3 cloves of garlic"
"3–4 tbsp. oil" or olive oil
"1–2 bay leaves"
"1 tsp. paprika"
"1 tsp. torn savory"
"1 tsp. dry mint" (if possible)
salt to taste, ground black pepper
fresh parsley for sprinkling

Preparation of beans and lentils
The classic monastic approach starts from the day before. The beans are washed well and soaked in cold water overnight. This boils faster and becomes lighter on the stomach. The next day, the water is poured out, the beans are rinsed and poured with fresh water. Lentils do not need a long soaking - just wash them well before cooking.

Step one: boiling and "reboiling"
Put the beans in a pot of clean water, bring to a boil and boil for about 10–15 minutes. Then pour out the first water - this is an old monastic trick for a lighter soup. Pour cold water again, add the bay leaves and let it simmer over medium heat until the beans begin to soften.

Vegetable base
While the beans are simmering, prepare the vegetables. The onion is cut finely, the carrot and celery - into small cubes. In a deep pan or directly in the pot, heat the oil and sauté the onion until transparent, without burning it. Add the carrot and celery, stir and let them soften. Finally, add the chopped pepper.

Remove the pot from the heat for a moment and add the paprika, stirring quickly - this releases the aroma, but does not allow it to become bitter. This simple "frying" is the heart of the taste, although in many monasteries they prefer a lighter version with less fat.

Gathering the soup
When the beans are almost softened, add the washed lentils and the vegetable base. If necessary, add more hot water - the soup should be thick, but still liquid. Let everything simmer over low heat for about 20–30 minutes, until the lentils are cooked and the flavors have mixed.

At the end, add the chopped garlic, savory, mint, salt and black pepper to taste. Let the soup boil for another 5 minutes and remove from the heat. Monastic cooks often say that such soups are tastiest if they stand for at least 10–15 minutes, "to let the aromas talk".

Serving
Serve the soup warm, sprinkled with fresh parsley. If desired, you can add a slice of lemon for a slightly sour accent or a spoonful of hot pepper for those who like it more spicy. Crusty bread, onions or olives next to the plate make the dish complete.

This is a recipe without meat, but with a lot of character. Monastery bean and lentil soup reminds us that even in the simplest products – a handful of beans, a handful of lentils, a little vegetable – a taste can be hidden that warms not only the stomach, but also the mind. Ultimately, this is the point of such dishes: to slow us down, to gather us around the table and to bring us back to something simple and real.