Pressure Cooker Greek Lentil Soup with Oregano

By Sprig Originals ✓ · cooked up in Sprig

Fakes is the weeknight soup every Greek kitchen falls back on: brown lentils simmered soft with onion, carrot and oregano, then woken up at the table with a hard splash of red wine vinegar and a thread of good olive oil. In the pressure cooker it goes from dry lentils to dinner in one lid-on cycle, no soaking and no babysitting. Ten pantry ingredients, one pot, and it tastes better than the sum of its parts.

Ingredients

• 3 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for serving
• 1 large yellow onion, finely chopped
• 2 medium carrots, cut into 1/4-inch coins
• 4 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
• 3 tbsp tomato paste
• 2 tsp dried oregano
• 1 1/2 cups dried brown or green lentils, rinsed
• 6 cups water
• 1 1/2 tsp salt, plus black pepper to taste
• 2 tbsp red wine vinegar

Instructions

1. Set the pressure cooker to Sauté (normal/medium). Add the olive oil, onion and carrots and cook, stirring now and then, for 5 minutes, until the onion is translucent and starting to soften at the edges. Add the garlic and cook 1 minute more, just until fragrant.
2. Stir in the tomato paste and oregano and cook for 1 minute, pressing the paste against the hot pot until it darkens a shade — this is what gives the soup its deep savoury base. Turn Sauté off.
3. Add the lentils, water, salt and several grinds of black pepper. Scrape the bottom of the pot with a wooden spoon to loosen anything stuck, so you don't get a burn warning.
4. Lock the lid, set the valve to Sealing, and cook on High Pressure for 12 minutes. It will take about 10 minutes to come up to pressure.
5. When the cycle ends, let the pressure release naturally for 10 minutes, then carefully turn the valve to Venting to release the rest. Open the lid away from your face.
6. Stir in the red wine vinegar, then taste and add more salt, pepper or vinegar until the soup tastes bright rather than flat. Ladle into bowls and finish each with a generous drizzle of olive oil.

Chef's tips

Nutrition (per serving, estimated)

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