This is a simple plant-based soup using two healthy ingredients, black lentils and black rice. Originally, rice was black until all of the nutrition and antioxidants were bred out of it. This is true of most modern grains, the original versions of the grains had far more more nutrients, including magnesium, which is probably why it’s difficult to get enough magnesium in our diets without supplementation in the present day.

The original lentils were wild lentils, which you can’t buy anymore, but black lentils are an older variety, and among the most nutritious types of lentils. Making vegetable broth is a great way to use any leftover vegetables that are about to go bad..There is no specific way it has to be done, just pull out any vegetables from your refrigerator and place them in a pressure cooker. As long as they have a neutral, mild taste they can be used to make vegetable broth. Celery, onions, carrots, bell peppers, and tomatoes are the best vegetables to use. You can also buy pre-made vegetable broth, of course, or you can just make it using vegetables that would soon be thrown out anyway.

For this I used a mini pressure cooker, which was not that expensive. Pressure cookers are great for dried legumes. You don’t have to worry about letting them soak overnight. Just toss them in a pressure cooker and wait until they’re done, then you have a healthy meal with little effort. Just be careful and read instructions carefully.

Black Rice and Lentil Soup

• Ingredients
• 1/4 cup dried ancient black rice
• 1/2 cup black lentils
• 1/2 of a medium onion
• 1 tbs extra virgin olive oil
• 1 tsp turmeric
• 1 bay leaf
• Seasoning, to taste(salt, paprika, onion powder, garlic powder, spice blends etc.)
• 3 cups of vegetable broth

For vegetable broth(if not using pre-made):

Puree a mixture of celery, onions, carrots, tomatoes, or other similar neutral tasting vegetables and cook in a pressure cooker along with a spoonful of whole peppercorns, one bay leaf, and a tsp of dried thyme(or a sprig of fresh thyme) for 40 minutes on high pressure. Strain several times.

For the soup:

Rinse the black rice and black lentils. Place the rice and lentils in the pressure cooker. Brown the onions in a hot pan on medium to medium high heat, reduce the heat to low and add 1 tbs of extra virgin olive oil. Soften the onions a bit then place in the pressure cooker along with the vegetable broth, lentils, rice, turmeric, and seasoning. Taste the broth, and adjust the seasoning. Cook on high pressure for 40 minutes. Taste the soup and make any final adjustments to the seasoning, then serve.