This humble, earthy, and comforting Greek lentil soup is made with just 5 ingredients. Easy, simple, and full of warmth, Fakes Soupa is a dish Greek families have shared for generations!
Table Of Contents
Fakes Soupa
This Fakes Soupa recipe (fakes, also called faki, means lentils in Greek) is the traditional, old-fashioned recipe. Made with only 5 ingredients: brown lentils, onions, garlic, bay leaf, and extra virgin olive oil.
There are many modern versions of Greek lentil soup, including carrots, celery, etc. However, the traditional recipe, for me, is still the best one. The simple ingredients used highlight the delicious, earthy flavor of the brown lentils without masking it.
Ingredients
- Brown Lentils: I wouldn't suggest making this Fakes recipe with any other type of lentil, such as green or red. Brown lentils cook more quickly, are softer, can become mushy, and have an earthy flavor. This flavor pairs best with the other ingredients in the soup. I'm using this Greek label of brown lentils (affiliate link) most of the time.
- Red Onion: strong, sweet, and pungent. We just mince and toss it into the soup without sauteing to preserve those flavors.
- Garlic: finely chopped garlic cloves, which are simmered in the soup without being sautéed first. So you can actually find and taste bits of melting garlic in every spoonful.
- Bay Leaf: It enhances the earthy flavor of the lentils. In some areas in Greece, they use dried oregano instead. It's also good, but I find it a touch too strong in this soup. However, that's just a matter of personal preference.
- Extra Virgin Olive Oil: It's important to use cold-pressed, extra virgin olive oil (affiliate link) to give real flavor and give the soup a glazy thickness. A plain olive oil won't do that.
- Optional: Unrefined Sea Salt. Since the ingredients in this lentil soup recipe are only a few and very basic, it's best to use top-quality ones. And unrefined sea salt (affiliate link) is one of them. If you get used to cooking with it (like I did), and the flavor it adds to the food, you won't be able to go back to refined table salt.
- Optional: Red Wine Vinegar. This ingredient is used when serving the lentil soup. A few drops are added to each serving to enhance the flavor of the soup. If the lentils and olive oil are of good quality, the vinegar will have a slight thickening effect on the soup.
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A fresh and flavorful Lentil Tomato Soup Recipe, with vegetables and delicious tomato flavor. This recipe is also made with brown lentils; however, it's also great with red lentils too!
Where I come from, in Lefkada island, one of the most popular lentil varieties of Greece is produced. They're harvested on the Eglouvi mountain (called Fakes Eglouvis), and due to the limited quantity produced, they're also very expensive.
These lentils cook in just 30 minutes, turning creamy and mushy. When you add vinegar to them, they turn a whiteish, creamy color. Traditionally, they were served with rose vinegar. A local homemade vinegar made from a specific rose plant, the same plant used in making rose spoon sweet.
How To Make
To make Greek lentil soup, simmer the lentils with the onions, garlic, bay leaf, salt, and pepper until the lentils are soft. Simmer covered, at low heat, to soften better.
Next, add the extra virgin olive oil, raise the heat, and cook until the soup thickens, stirring occasionally. You can thicken the soup as much as you like at this point.
Soaking
There's no need to soak lentils. They cook much more easily and quickly than other legumes. Even so, I soak them for 2-3 hours in plenty of room-temperature water prior to cooking. This makes them more digestible and also gives them a softer and mushier texture when cooked.
Serving
Serve Faki soup with some Kalamata olives on the side or salt-cured fish, such as salt-cured sardines or salt-cured anchovies (affiliate). A pairing that goes way back to ancient Greek times.
Many Greeks serve Fakes with a piece of feta cheese on the side, yet I skip this combination due to a nutritional conflict. Iron (from the lentils) and calcium (from the feta cheese) are two minerals that conflict with each other; specifically, calcium inhibits the absorption of iron.
Recipe
Greek Lentil Soup Recipe
Ingredients
- 300 grams (1½ cups) brown lentils
- 120 grams (¾ cup) red onion minced
- 3-4 large garlic cloves finely chopped
- 1 large dried bay leaf or 2 small ones
- 60 ml (¼ cup) extra virgin olive oil Greeks use up to ⅓ cup of olive oil in this soup, and it becomes even thicker
- 1 liter (4 cups) hot water or stock see notes below
- unrefined sea salt
- ground pepper
- red wine vinegar to serve with
Instructions
Soak The Lentils (Optional):
- Soak lentils in plenty of room temperature water for 2-3 hours. Drain and rinse.
Cook The Lentils:
- Bring lentils to a boil in a medium-sized cooking pot with plenty of water.
- Drain in a strainer after 2 minutes.
- Add the lentils back to the cooking pot along with salt, pepper, onion, garlic, and bay leaf.
- Pour the hot boiling water or stock and bring to a simmer.
- Simmer gently, covered over low heat for about 30-40 minutes or until the lentils are soft and tender.
- Pour in the olive oil and raise the heat to medium (gas stove), or medium-high (electric stove).
- Cook until the soup thickens, stirring occasionally with a wooden spoon. NOTE: Stirring helps the olive oil to combine and the soup to turn creamier.
- Serve warm with a few drops of red wine vinegar and some crusty bread on the side. If you let the soup sit for 15-20 minutes, it will thicken a bit more.
I made these lentils for my class when we did ancient civilizations. I was surprised how good they were! I was a little skeptical with so few ingredients, but they were delicious.
Glad you enjoyed them. I guess this recipe wouldn't have survived so many years if they weren't good after all 😛
Will try this next week! I'll send you a pic on Facebook 🙂 Even so, I'm sure that your delicious Greek olive oil makes the soup even more yummy! I would love to have some right now...
Looking forward on seeing the results!