Lemony Red Lentil Soup, Pasta Optional

Melissa Clark of NYT made this popular. Here is a slightly modified version. It is simple and fast, and more of a comfort soup than a big deal. You need red lentils.

Ingredients:
One cup dried red lentils
One large onion, chopped
One large carrot, grated
Two or three garlic cloves, minced or pressed
One teaspoon ground cumin, one teaspoon chili powder, 2 teaspoons salt, fresh ground pepper
Four cups water or vegetable broth. A quarter cup more if adding pasta.
Juice of half a lemon or more
One cup or more cilantro or parsley
One half cup dry pasta optional

Directions:
Saute the onion, garlic and carrot well, add the spices and lentils, stir to see how pretty it looks, add the water, bring to a boil, cover, turn to simmer and cook for 30 minutes. Turn off the heat, use an immersion blender to smooth the texture if desired, add the lemon and cilantro. Serve with lemon slices, a sprinkle of chili powder, maybe drizzle a little olive oil. Note: Pasta goes very well with this soup too. You can add a cup of dry small pasta at the end and cook just a little more than directed, (stir to keep the pasta from sticking) then add the lemon and parsley or cilantro