Lentil Soup

There are a few staple ingredients that I always have in my cupboards because I use them in so many recipes; dates, cashew nuts, almonds, nutritional yeast, chickpeas, tahini, curry powder, flax seeds, chia seeds and, of course, the long-time favourite amongst vegetarians and vegans: lentils!

Their popularity comes with good reason, not only are they packed full of protein and fibre, but just one cup of cooked lentils provides 90% of your daily folate needs and 37% of your iron requirements.

Lentil soup is a regular dish in our house! It's so nutritious and warming, yet really simple to make with cheap, readily available ingredients. Usually I use red lentils because they don't need to be soaked first. I find that yellow lentils do need to be soaked, which requires a bit of pre-planning (normally I leave them in water overnight and cook in the morning), but I do prefer the taste of them.

To make this soup, put 500g of soaked and rinsed yellow lentils in a large pan. Then add:

4 chopped celery stalks

4 carrots

2 chopped brown onions

2 bulbs of garlic, chopped (yes 2!)

A chunk of ginger, chopped

4 Not Chick'n vegan stock cubes (it's my favourite stock at the moment, but I also like Kallo organic stock cubes, particularly because they make organic and yeast free varieties).

Cover in boiling water, about 2 inches above the ingredients, bring back to the boil and simmer for about 20 minutes.

Blend the soup to a smooth consistency. I use a hand-help soup blender because they're so convenient. Add sea salt to taste.

There are a lot of recipes which fry the vegetables in oil first, but this soup tastes so good as it is I don't see the need for oil. It's a simple, healthy soup that we all love!