About the Recipe
When it’s cold and raining outside there’s nothing like a bowl of nourishing, hot soup. The spices in this one really warm you up from the inside. It does have a little kick so reduce the amount of chilli if you’d prefer. The recipe makes a generous pot of soup - perfect for popping leftovers in the freezer for the next rainy day.
Ingredients
1 large leek (250g), sliced lengthwise
2 medium carrots (200g), peeled or scrubbed
3 medium potatoes (450g), peeled or scrubbed
1 tablespoon of olive oil
1 teaspoon finely chopped red chilli
2 teaspoons finely chopped ginger
1 tablespoon cumin seeds
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon turmeric
½ teaspoon ground black pepper
1 tablespoon garam masala
1 tablespoon soy sauce
2 litres pre-made vegetable stock (I use Marigold Vegetable Bouillon powder)
1 tin chopped tomatoes
100g dry red lentils, rinsed
100g baby spinach
30g fresh coriander or parsley, roughly chopped
Preparation
After slicing your leek down the centre lengthwise, give it a good wash to remove any soil hidden there. Slice the leek into thin half-moons. Cut the carrots and potatoes into small bite-size pieces so they’re easy to eat (and cook quickly too).
Heat a large pot with the olive oil. Once hot, add the sliced leek. Lower the heat and very slowly sweat the leek for about 5 minutes. Stir regularly so the leek doesn’t stick to the bottom of the pot. If need be, add about a teaspoon of water to make sure it doesn’t stick or burn.
While your leeks are cooking, make your vegetable stock and set aside.
Add the chilli, ginger and cumin seeds to your leeks. Mix well and fry for another 2 minutes, stirring frequently. If need be, add another teaspoon of water to stop the leek and spice mixture from sticking.
Add the chopped carrots and potatoes together with the salt, turmeric, black pepper, garam masala and soy sauce. Add 120ml of your veggie stock and stir well. Put the lid on, turn the heat down low and leave to cook for 5 minutes. Stir every now and then and add a little more stock if it dries out.
Turn up the heat. Add the chopped tomatoes, rinsed red lentils and the remaining veggie stock and str well. When your soup has boiled, turn the heat back down to low and simmer for 30 minutes. Stir once or twice to make sure the lentils don’t stick to the bottom.
While your soup is cooking, roughly chop your coriander or parsley. Pick any stems off the baby spinach leaves.
Remove the cooked soup from the heat. Stir in your spinach leaves. Spoon into warmed soup bowls and top with the fresh herbs.
So yummy you’ll forget its grey and rainy out there!
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