My neighbor Frank said my lentil soup looked like prison food
We were talking over the fence yesterday and he saw my big pot of soup, just lentils, carrots, and an onion. He made a joke about it looking like something from a mess hall. It got me thinking that I've been avoiding spices to save cash, but flavor is cheap. I'm going to the Asian market on 5th Street this weekend for some cumin and chili powder. What's your go-to cheap spice to make simple food taste great?
Oh man, Frank doesn't know what he's missing. Cumin is a total game changer for lentils, that's a great call. Honestly, a big bag of smoked paprika is my secret weapon, it adds this deep, almost meaty flavor to beans and soups without any actual meat. I throw it in everything from scrambled eggs to roasted potatoes.
Call MSG the secret weapon and watch people lose their minds. It gets a bad rap but it's just concentrated umami. A little pinch in a pot of beans works wonders.