East Indian Spices meet Red Lentil Soup

1 tbsp. olive oil (plus another tsp.)
1 onion, chopped (red if you have it)
2 carrots, chopped
2 celery sticks, chopped
1 to 2 tbsp. minced fresh garlic
1 tsp turmeric
1 tsp ground cumin
1/8 tsp cayenne (or more if you like it zippy)
1 28 oz can chopped tomatoes
1 cup dried red lentils, washed and drained
4 cups vegetable stock
1 tsp sea salt
1 tsp cumin seeds (I used ground cumin here as well because I did not have cumin seeds) 
1 tsp mustard seeds
1/4 cup chopped cilantro

Heat olive oil in tureen (naturally) ... sauté onions, carrots, celery and garlic until golden.  Add next 3 spices and stir for 2 or 3 minutes.  Add can of tomatoes and heat.  Add lentils and vegetable stock to pot and simmer for an hour, stirring often.  Stir in salt to taste.

Heat additional tsp. of olive oil in a small skillet and fry cumin and mustard seeds until they make popping sound.  Stir into the finished soup.  Serve garnished with cilantro. 

Your kitchen will smell amazing.

Happy Souping!