Bring water and lentils to a boil. Add remaining ingredients except broccoli, and simmer until lentils are tender.

Remove bay leaves. Add broccoli just before the soup is done.

* to make sofrito, combine cilantro, onion, garlic, culantro (Chinese flat-leaved cilantro), red bell pepper, green bell pepper and process in food processor until smooth. Extra sofrito can be frozen in ice cube trays and saved for later.