A delicious and hearty soup.  If you haven't heard of sumac before, it's a spice used to add flavour to middle eastern dishes, you should be able to buy it anywhere you can buy middle eastern spices - we found some in IGA!.

 

3 tbsp vegan margarine or olive oil (I used half and half)
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1 carrot, chopped
1 celery stalk, chopped
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp cumin seeds
¼ tsp chilli flakes (more if you like it hotter)
1 tbsp sumac
1.5 tbsps tomato paste
½ cup red lentils
½ cup french lentils
¾ cup course brown bulgar
7 cups stock (I used a mixture of Massel 'chicken' stock and vegetable stock.  You may need to add more water if it gets too thick while cooking)
1.5 tbsp dried mint leaves

Garnish:
A few mint leaves (optional), sumac

Heat oil and fry onion, carrot and celery until slightly browned.

Stir through all the dry spices (except mint) and tomato paste and continue frying for a couple more minutes.

Add all the lentils and bulgar, fry for about a minute then add stock.  Allow to simmer for about 30-40 minutes, or until lentils and bulgar are tender. Mix through the dried mint. 

At this point you can either blend the soup or leave it chunky depending on your preference.

Garnish soup with fresh mint and a sprinkling of sumac.

Serve with bread, a dollop of houmous and a lemon or lime wedge.