Sasha's Kitchen: Red Lentil Chicken Soup

I love lentil soups and recently tried a new recipe for lentil chicken soup that was quite delicious and easy to make.  This recipe had plenty of leftovers soon.  It was my first time making lentil soup (surprisingly) and I was pleased to learn that you don't have to soak the lentils or anything before using them.  I was planning on eating my leftovers last night but we wound up going out for dinner to Lucali, a great little quaint pizza place over in Carroll Gardens where we had some of the best pizza and calzone we had ever had. Yum!  At any rate, here's the recipe for the chicken lentil soup, which is spiced up nicely in the original recipe.

Lentil Chicken Soup (recipe from Chicken and Egg)
About 1- 1/2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into one inch pieces
2 T cumin
1 tsp cinnamon
3/4 tsp allspice
1 T extra virgin olive oil
2 large onions
2 celery ribs
4 garlic cloves, minced
two 32 oz containers of reduced sodium chicken stock
1 28 oz can diced tomatoes
1 1/2 cups red lentils
1 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
1/2 cup chopped cilantro

Toss the chicken in a medium bowl with the cumin, cinnamon and allspice until coated. Heat a large pot over medium high heat with the olive oil and saute the chicken for 3-5 minutes until lightly browned.  Add the onions and the celery and cook for three minutes until softened.  Stir in the garlic and cook for thirty seconds longer.

Pour in the chicken stock and tomatoes, lentils, salt, red pepper flakes and pepper.  Bring to a boil then reduce the heat and simmer partially covered for 45 minutes, which is long enough for the lentils to be tender.  Top with cilantro when serving.