Carrot & Lentil Soup

This was a quick "throw-together" soup because I wanted to use up some carrots.  It was so good that the bowls were taken away and emptied before I could get a photo!

Ingredients

Butter
1 onion - roughly chopped
4 cloves garlic - roughly chopped
3 stalks celery (including leaves) - roughly chopped
6 large carrots - roughly chopped
Ground cumin
Chilli powder
250g red split lentils
1 tin tomatoes
6 cups vegetable stock
Fresh parsley - finely chopped


Melt a small knob of butter in a large pan. Add the onion, garlic and celery and stir until onion starts to soften. Add the carrots and let cook for approx 5 mins.

Shake in a good sprinkling of cumin and chilli. Stir well until vegetables are covered in the spices. Pour in the lentils and stir until combined.

Add tomatoes and stock. Stir well and bring to the boil. Put a lid on the pan and turn down to a simmer for approx. 30 minutes. Stir occasionally.

When carrots are soft and lentils are cooked, take the pan off the heat. Use a hand blender to blend until smooth. Season to taste.

Ladle into individual bowls and top each with a sprinkling of parsley.

We ate this with freshly baked cornbread muffins and a green leaf salad.

Enjoy!

Caryl ❤

Red Lentil Dahl with Carrots & Sweet Potato

My daughter has recently decided to try being a vegetarian.  Luckily, I often cook vegetarian meals anyway, so this one was pretty easy.  I used carrots and sweet potato because that's all I had left, before the delivery of my next organic veggie box, but you could really add any vegetable you want.

Red Lentil Dahl with Carrots and Sweet Potato

Ingredients

2 small onions - peeled and finely chopped
3 large carrots - roughly chopped
1 large sweet potato - roughly chopped
3 large garlic cloves - crushed
1 tbs curry powder
250g red lentils
1 400g tin kidney beans - drained and rinsed
1 400g tin tomatoes
2-3 cups vegetable stock or water
1 large handful fresh flat-leaf parsley or coriander (cilantro) - roughly chopped
1-2 tbs red wine vinegar


Stir fry the onions, carrots and sweet potato in a little oil, until the onion is softened.

Add the crushed garlic and curry powder and stir until nicely fragrant.

Pour in the lentils and give it all a good stir, then add the kidney beans, tomatoes and stock.  Stir well and bring to the boil.  Cover with a lid or some baking paper and simmer for 15-20 minutes, until the veggies are just cooked.  Add extra water if needed.

Stir through the parsley/coriander and red wine vinegar.  Serve over fluffy brown basmati rice or with naan bread.

Enjoy!

Caryl ♥