• Place the lentils in a sieve and rinse them well. Drain them.

To cook in a pressure cooker:

• To the pressure cooker, place the lentils, onion, garlic, bay leaf, olive oil, salt and pepper.
• Top the soup ingredients with the tomato sauce and water and place the lid on the pressure cooker. Heat the pressure cooker until it begins to whistle and then turn down the heat to the low setting (I set mine to the 2 setting on my stove top).
• Allow the soup to cook for 10 minutes and then remove from the heat. Let the pressure cooker cool until the safety valve has gone down and it is safe to open your pressure cooker [Always adhere to safety measures when using a pressure cooker. Be sure to follow the safety instructions in your particular pressure cooker model.]
• Remove the bay leaf and ladle the soup into bowls. Serve as is or with your choice of optional toppings.

To cook on the stove top:

• In a large soup pot, place the lentils, onion, garlic, bay leaf, olive oil, salt and pepper.
• Top the soup ingredients with the tomato sauce and water and bring the pot to a boil. Lower the temperature to low and place a lid on the soup pot.
• Allow the soup to cook over low heat for 40 minutes, checking on the soup from time to time to adding more liquid if it is needed.
• Remove the bay leaf and ladle the soup into bowls. Serve as is or with your choice of optional toppings.