Our team absolutely love this soup; in fact, the first time one of them took the recipe home to try, she ate it for lunch every day for a week. Warming and nourishing, it’s packed full of protein and spices. Although it’s deliciously creamy, the chilli and mustard seeds add a gentle kick that will help blow the cobwebs away. If you like smooth soups, you might want to blend it, but we tend to serve it as it comes with some flatbread or naan. Don’t forget to squeeze in the lemon at the end – it’s an absolute must.

Serves 6

Prep: 10 minutes

Cooking: 40 minutes

Ingredients:

1 onion
2 mild red chillies
1 tomato
200g red lentils
2 garlic cloves
A small thumb of ginger
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp black mustard seeds
1 tsp Baharat or Lebanese 7-spice
½ tsp ground turmeric
1 litre vegetable stock
1 × 400 ml tin coconut milk
1 lemon
Salt and pepper

Method:

• Finely chop the onion. Deseed and finely chop the chillies. Dice the tomato into small cubes. Wash and drain the lentils. Peel and finely grate the garlic and the ginger to make a paste.
• Set a large saucepan or shallow casserole pan on a medium heat. Coat with a thin layer of the oil. Add the mustard seeds and fry for 2 minutes until they start to pop. Stir in the onion, garlic, ginger, chillies, Baharat/7-spice, and turmeric.
• Sauté until the onion begins to turn light brown. Add in the diced tomato and sauté until they soften.
• Add the lentils, coconut milk, vegetable stock, and a good pinch of salt and simmer over a medium heat for 20–25 minutes until thickened and the lentils are cooked. Add the juice from the lemon, starting with the juice of half and then adding more to taste. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
• To serve, either blend the soup or leave it as it is for more texture. Garnish with your choice of tasty toppings.

Both recipes adapted from: Soup for Good (published by Cook for Good) available on amazon and cookforgood