Tomato, Lentil and Olive Oil Breakfast Soup
A deep red bowl, tomato paste cooked down in olive oil with cumin and tinned lentils. On the table in about twelve minutes.
Why it works
Lycopene is the reason this leans on tomato paste instead of fresh tomatoes. It sits in the tomato bound up in cell walls, and both heat and fat move it into a form your gut can take up, which is why concentrated paste cooked in oil delivers several times what a raw tomato does. Once absorbed, it accumulates in your skin, where its job is unglamorous and specific: quenching the reactive oxygen species ultraviolet light generates in the dermis, upstream of the collagen breakdown and the mitochondrial DNA damage that follow. The olive oil is not just a cooking medium. Skip the fat in the same meal and carotenoid absorption drops sharply. The lentils are there for the rest of the morning, adding protein and around half a day's fiber so a savory breakfast holds until lunch.
The trial behind this is small and specific. Rizwan and colleagues (British Journal of Dermatology, 2011) gave 20 women either 55 g of tomato paste in olive oil or olive oil alone, every day for 12 weeks, then exposed their skin to ultraviolet light. The dose of UV needed to produce visible reddening rose in the tomato group. It did not move in the control group. Markers of matrix damage and mitochondrial DNA damage were lower too. Two servings of this soup use about 100 g of paste, so a bowl lands close to what was tested. Here is what it does not do: replace sunscreen. The shift measured was a modest rise in the threshold for burning under laboratory light, in 20 people. That is not protection from sun exposure, and it was never claiming to be.
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil, plus more to finish
- 1 small onion, finely chopped
- 2 garlic cloves, sliced
- 100 g tomato paste (about 6 tbsp)
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 1/2 tsp smoked paprika
- 1 x 400 g tin chopped tomatoes
- 1 x 400 g tin brown or green lentils, drained and rinsed
- 300 ml water
- 1/2 lemon
- A handful of parsley, chopped
- Salt and black pepper
Method
- Warm the olive oil in a saucepan over medium heat and cook the onion for 3 minutes until soft, then add the garlic for 30 seconds.
- Add the tomato paste, cumin and paprika and fry them in the oil for a full 2 minutes, stirring, until the paste darkens and smells sweet rather than raw. This step is doing the work; do not rush it.
- Pour in the tinned tomatoes and the water, bring to a simmer and cook for 5 minutes.
- Stir in the drained lentils and heat through for 2 minutes. Loosen with a splash more water if it is thicker than you want.
- Season, squeeze in the lemon, and finish each bowl with parsley and a thread of olive oil poured over at the table.
