By Melissa Clark
Published Feb. 23, 2024
- Total Time
- 1 ½ to 2 hours
- Prep Time
- 15 minutes
- Cook Time
- 1 hour 15 minutes to 1 hour 45 minutes
- Rating
- 4(796)
- Notes
- Read community notes
Warm spices, fennel and leeks give this rib-sticking stew a deep, complex character. Feel free to adjust the liquid to taste. Adding a little more makes it brothier and more souplike, suitable for eating with a spoon. Or let it rest a bit. As it sits, the barley will absorb all of the liquid, making it easily forkable. Be sure to serve this with lemon wedges on the side, since the lentils and barley benefit greatly from a bright jolt right at the end.
Featured in: 3 Hearty Vegetarian Stews That Don’t Take Hours on the Stove
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Ingredients
Yield:8 servings
- 3tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, more for drizzling
- 2leeks, white and light green parts, sliced into half-moons, or 1 cup sliced onion
- 3carrots, diced
- 1cup chopped fennel, fronds reserved
- 1bunch cilantro, leaves and stems mostly separated and chopped (don’t worry too much about leaves and stems mingling)
- 3garlic cloves, minced
- 1½teaspoons fine sea or table salt, more to taste
- 2tablespoons tomato paste
- 1tablespoon baharat or garam masala
- ½teaspoon ground turmeric
- 1cinnamon stick
- 2quarts vegetable or chicken broth
- 1cup pearled barley
- 1cup red lentils
- 1 to 2tablespoons fresh lemon juice, plus lemon wedges for serving
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (8 servings)
339 calories; 9 grams fat; 2 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 5 grams monounsaturated fat; 1 gram polyunsaturated fat; 52 grams carbohydrates; 9 grams dietary fiber; 8 grams sugars; 16 grams protein; 842 milligrams sodium
Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
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Preparation
Step
1
In a large Dutch oven or soup pot, heat oil over medium-high. Add leeks and cook, stirring often, until tender and beginning to brown, about 10 minutes.
Step
2
Stir in carrots, fennel, cilantro stems, garlic and salt. Cook until the garlic is fragrant, about 2 minutes. Stir in tomato paste, baharat, turmeric and cinnamon stick, and cook until the tomato paste begins to caramelize, about 2 minutes.
Step
3
Add the broth, barley and red lentils, and bring to a boil. Lower heat and simmer for 1 hour to 1 ½ hours, stirring occasionally, until the barley and lentils are tender. (Add some water if the pot starts to look dry; this can be as thick or soupy as you like.)
Step
4
Stir in a tablespoon of lemon juice and the chopped cilantro leaves. Taste stew and add salt and lemon juice if needed (you might need a lot more salt if you started with unsalted broth). Serve in bowls drizzled with olive oil and garnished with chopped fennel fronds.
Ratings
4
out of 5
796
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Cooking Notes
Lisa LM
This was crazy delicious. I made it according to the recipe, threw in two handfuls of spinach and yogurt at the end.
Peaches
An alternative to the lemon juice at the end is sherry vinegar. I always add a couple tablespoons to earthy soups and stews, to brighten the flavor. Add it about five minutes before turning the heat off.
lindamc
Just made this and wanted to encourage others to do so - very easy and delicious! I pretty much followed the recipe (though I always amp up the seasoning). Hearty and satisfying without being heavy. Another keeper from Melissa Clark!
TOAnne
My guess would be that because red lentils break down when they're cooked they would combine with the broth to make a more stew-like in consistency. You could use brown or green lentils, but because they remain more or less intact, you would probably have a more of a soup than a stew.
MsG.
Cooking time is much shorter then stated in the recipe. Maybe 40 minutes all in. Good melding of flavors. Next time more fennel, otherwise really nice.
RobotDeathSquad
Red = Mushy ergo SoupBrown = AnythingGreen = Cruncy ergo Salads and such
lindamc
(adding to my prior rave review: the fennel *really* mellows as the dish cooks. I’m not a licorice fan either, and I detest fennel seed, but here it plays nicely in the background).
Justin F.
1-1.5 hour simmer is crazy long to get barley and lentils cooked. I finished it in 20 minutes.
lindamc
Red lentils break down quickly, unlike green and brown. That will make this more stew-y.
Laura
This sounds delicious but red lentils take very little time to become tender and barley takes 25-30 minutes, so why the long cooking time? Won’t it become mushy - or is that the point?
Joanne
As a side comment: dried beans and grains are much less expensive than canned, and I presume more sustainable without the metal can. They're easy to cook once you've tried it a time or two. If time is a factor, an electric pressure cooker or Instant Pot makes it both quicker and easier. Put in the beans (or grain) and water, set the time and let it go! Or put in beans or grains, cut-up veggies and spices, set the time and let it go, and you have soup or stew.
kate
This is great! I didn’t have any barley so I used diced potatoes. It was perfect. Served with rice.
Jeff
One of the best and most flavorful soups / stews I have ever made. Will make again - for company!
LewPhilly
This was delicious. I had green lentils which don't cook down like red lentils, so I chopped half of them in a mini food processor before adding them to the stew. The stew was nice and thick and hearty, not soupy. We liked that the rest of the lentils kept some chew.
jeri
As others have done I want to encourage others to make this delightfully flavorful stew emphasis on stew. The third time I made it I added a pound of 1/4” cubed stewing beef which I’d salted overnight. I browned it at the start of cooking, removed from the pot, added a splash of red wine to release the fond then sautéed the veggies. Add the beef back to the pot before simmering. Fantastic.
Lauren
I normally like cilantro, but cooking the stems seemed to bring out the soapy side of the herb. Next time, I might just use the leaves at the end, or omit it. But otherwise, this was great.
Kathy from Halfmoon
Made it exactly according to the recipe and it was divine!
Cindy Glatz
I made this with triple the garlic, 2 cinnamon sticks. Super good! The barley texture is wonderful!
RobertF
The red lentils were wrong for this recipe. By the time the barley and vegetables are soft, the lentils have disintegrated. It's not so much a lentil stew, as it is a lentil porridge. If I were to make this again, I'd use green or brown lentils. They'd hold their shape longer.
Emily
This was absolutely one of the best, most surprising recipes I’ve made all year. Followed exactly first two times- now sub in toor dal for red lentils, ground cinnamon instead of stick and end with sherry vinegar. Freezes and reheats beautifully with more stock.
Susan
This is so good! One of MC's best in my opinion and she's created many bests. I can't wait to make this again!
Margaret
As good as good gets. Delish! Everyone liked - will definitely make again (and again). Can’t wait until tomorrow, when I can have leftovers. (Added two Yukon gold potatoes, cubed, after the lentils and stock.)
JSC
Instead of sautéing the leeks in oil, I sautéed them in water. It tasted great.
Joe H.
How much is a "bunch" of cilantro? The bunches we buy makes that seem like an excessive amount?
Mark
I would really appreciate an answer to this as well. I like cilantro a lot but the "bunch" I bought seems really big. I usually have the same question when a recipe calls for '3 cloves of garlic'. Some garlic I see has really big cloves and some are really small.
Arline VG
DELICIOUS!!! Used leeks, not onion and two fennel bulbs. Heavy hand with the spices and cuz I love lemon about 1/4 cup of lemon juice at the end when I stirred in the chopped cilantro leaves. Also used Better Than Buillion Vegetable for my broth. Another A+ recipe from Melissa!
Susanna
This was so hearty and good for the soul, and tasted even better the next day! I doubled the spices and used an immersion blender to make things a bit less chunky, but there's not much I would change here. Was definitely healthy and will make again.
Chapel
This was awesome. Very unique, well-spiced, and full of fennel flavor. The red lentils disintegrate and thicken the broth very nicely. I used garam masala as suggested, and I somehow had no turmeric so I used harissa seasoning to keep it earthy (the mint in that was a nice team player). Probably could have done with a little more salt. Lemon juice is essential. Delicious!
lawlev
Does this freeze well?
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