I find Turkish lentil soups to be pretty easy to make: https://ozlemsturkishtable.com/2010/11/hearty-red-lentil-soup-kirmizi-mercimek-corbasi/ https://ozlemstu

I find Turkish lentil soups to be pretty easy to make: https://ozlemsturkishtable.com/2010/11/hearty-red-lentil-soup-kirmizi-mercimek-corbasi/ https://ozlemsturkishtable.com/2010/11/hearty-red-lentil-sou... https://ozlemsturkishtable.com/2010/09/hearty-and-spicy-red-lentil-soup-ezo-gelin-corba/ https://ozlemsturkishtable.com/2010/09/hearty-and-spicy-red-... If you don't use chicken stock there isn't much of an umami component. That doesn't really bother me, but Better Than Bouillon or just a bit of Marmite can give it a little umami boost. Indian dals can pretty easy as well (if you consider them to be soup). The simplest don't need much more than cumin and mustard seeds, which I wouldn't call exotic. There are a huge variety of them and obviously they can get much more complex. On the slightly more complex side, I also like vegetarian chili and Tuscan white bean soup. I think chili tastes better using whole dried peppers, but if you have chili powder you can throw it together much more quickly.