Wash and pick over lentils. Combine lentils, onion, garlic, bay leaf and water in a soup pot. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer for 40 minutes. Add the salt toward the end of the cooking time. Remove from the heat. Discard the onion and bay leaf. Put the soup through a food mill or puree half of it in a blender. Heat through, add salt and pepper to taste, stir in the cilantro, and serve, topping each bowl with a dollop of yogurt. Nutritional info: 177 calories; 5G protein; .75G fat; 30G carbohydrate; 17MG sodium; 0 cholesterol.
SOURCE: "Entertaining Light" Martha Rose Shulman.