Lentil soup with cabbage and smoked chicken

Lentil soup with cabbage and smoked chicken is a fragrant, hearty and very tasty soup, the preparation of which does not require much time or complex manipulations. I strongly recommend not to neglect cilantro: it perfectly complements all the other ingredients of the soup, its aroma and taste here is very welcome. However, if you are an ardent hater of cilantro, then even without it, lentil soup with cabbage and smoked chicken will turn out tasty, bright and nutritious. I highly recommend trying!
From this amount of ingredients, a five-liter pot of soup is obtained.

Ingredients

• Smoked chicken breast (660 gr. pure meat)
• White cabbage (1/3 of a dense head of medium size, about 700 gr.)
• Red lentils (320 gr.)
• Carrots (3 medium)
• Onion (4 small onions)
• Garlic (1 medium head)
• Tomato paste (90 gr., about 3-4 tablespoons with a slide)
• Vegetable oil (1.5-2 tablespoons)
• Green onion (1/2 large bunch)
• Parsley (1/2 large bunch)
• Dill (1/2 large bunch)
• cilantro (1 large bunch)
• Salt (to taste)
• Bay leaf (5-7 small leaves)
• A mixture of peppers (preferably freshly ground, to taste)
• Smoked paprika (1.5 tablespoons)
• Dried garlic (1 tbsp without a slide)
• Freshly ground coriander (1/2 tbsp.)
• Curry (1/2 tbsp.)

Directions

1. Let's prepare all the ingredients. Peel the carrots, onions and garlic. Cut off a piece of the desired size from a head of cabbage. Rinse the lentils thoroughly under cold water until the water stops foaming. Wash and dry greens.
2. Remove the skin from the smoked chicken breast (I don’t use it, so I throw it away right away) and separate the meat from the skeleton. We immediately put the skeleton to boil, adding bay leaves to the pan.
3. While the skeleton is cooking, grind the rest of the ingredients. We will disassemble the smoked chicken meat into fibers, chop the cabbage thinly, cut the carrots into thin sticks, and the onions into small cubes. Finely chop the garlic and herbs.
4. Add chicken meat and chopped cabbage to the pan with the skeleton, salt to taste and cook after boiling for 5 minutes on a slightly above average fire (6 out of 9 on my electric stove).
5. You should be careful with salt, as smoked chicken is salty in itself.
6. We remove the skeleton from the pan, add the washed lentils and all the spices, mix and continue to cook until the lentils and cabbage are ready.
7. In the meantime, in a well-heated deep frying pan, greased with olive (or other vegetable) oil, add the onion and simmer it over a slightly above medium heat (on my electric stove 6 out of 9) under the lid until translucent, stirring occasionally so that the onion does not begin to fry.
8. Add the carrots to the onions and continue to simmer until the carrots are soft, stirring occasionally. If necessary, add a little bit of oil.
9. As soon as the carrots become soft, add the garlic, stir, reduce the heat to a small one (on my electric stove 4 out of 9) and continue to simmer until a light, pleasant aroma of garlic.
10. Add good quality tomato paste, mix thoroughly and continue to simmer for another 5-7 minutes.
11. Add vegetables from the pan to the pan, mix and keep on fire for another 5-7 minutes.
12. Add chopped herbs, mix and immediately remove from heat. Cover with a lid and let it brew for 10-15 minutes.
13. Lentil soup with cabbage and smoked chicken is thick, fragrant and very tasty. For lunch, such a soup is the very thing!
14. Bon appetit!