My life is ruled by soup. It’s cheap, portable, healthy and I have more carrots than I can shake a stick at. This one was a winner because it tasted amazing on the first day I had it and didn’t make me want to kill myself by the third day I had it (more than can be said for a half-arsed French onion soup the following week).
The roughly equal mixture of carrots and lentils meant it wasn’t as sickly as standard carrot soup can be, whilst having a definite point of difference from a straight-forward daal. The lentils also made it more filling, while the warming spice mix made it just what you need on a dour winter day.
Click through for recipe
Makes about 4-5 mugs-full
Ingredients
(all of the below spices are preferable, but a couple of tablespoons of medium curry powder will make a perfectly acceptable soup if you don’t feel like getting them all. HOWEVS, it is worth getting them as they’re cheap and you can use them in loads of things).
2 cardamom pods
1 cinnamon stick
3 cloves
1 teaspoon of ground corriander
1 teaspoon of cumin seeds
1/2 teaspoon of chilli powder
1/2 teaspoon of garam massala
1/2 an inch of fresh ginger, chopped finely
1/2 an onion finely chopped
5 medium carrots, roughly chopped into big chunks
100g of red lentils
1litre of chicken or vegetable stock
Directions
In a pan that has a lid, slowly fry the onion and ginger on a low heat with the whole (not powder) spices, until they are soft and lightly browned.
Throw in the carrots, and a splash of water if it looks like it is sticking, and continue to fry on a low heat for another 5mins.
Add the lentils and powder spices and stir to combine. Pour in stock, stick on the lid and simmer gently for 20-30 mins, stirring occasionally.
Remove from heat and pick out as many of the whole spices as you can find and blend until smooth.
Serve with a sprinkling of chopped fresh coriander and a squeeze of lime if you fancy it.
