Carrot & Lentil soup 甘筍扁豆湯

CARROT & LENTIL SOUP

Wheat, gluten, corn, soya, dairy & nut free

A real North African soup with lots of flavour. You can leave the garlic out, if you cannot eat it, and it will still taste good.

The crumbled bacon (or Redwood’s crumbled ‘cheatin' rashers’ – see www.redwoodfoods.co.uk) add extra flavour although

they are straying somewhat from the soup’s ethnic origins! In the picture below we had just sqeezed in the lemon juice

and added a couple of leaves of flat-leaf parlsey.

Ingredients -

3 tbsp olive oil

4 large cloves garlic peeled and sliced (optional)

2 heaped tsps ground cumin

1/2 level tsp ground coriander

400g carrots
300g red lentils

1.3 litres gluten/wheat-free vegetable stock

sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

juice 1–2 lemons

4–6 rashers bacon, chopped small and briskly

fried till crisp (optional)

Instructions -

Heat the oil in a heavy pan and add the garlic, cumin and

coriander. Stir and cook for a minute or two taking great

care that it does not burn.

Add the carrots and continue to cook gently for a further

5 minutes.

Add the lentils and the stock, bring to the boil, cover and

simmer for 35–40 minutes or until the carrots are quite

cooked.

Purée in a processor or liquidiser and adjust the seasoning

to taste.

To serve, reheat, add lemon juice to taste and sprinkle with

the bacon (or cheatin’ rashers) bits.

SERVES 6 – PER PORTION

317cals - 23g protein

17g total fat – 2.5g sat / 6g mono / 1.5g poly

33g carbohydrate of which 7g sugar

4g fibre – 245mg sodium / 1.7g salt

43mg calcium

GOOD SOURCE OF: Vitamin B1, B6, iron & zinc

(Source: FoodsMatter)