As you may know, I have been suffering from my first cold in what seems like forever and am treating myself with some delicious health boosting meals this week to get me back into shape! (I am going to the craft show at Alexandra Palace next week, so need to be better for all that fun!)
This fiery Indian both is possibly one of my favourite soups for when I’m off colour because it packs as much or as little punch as you like – I like it punchy to break up the mucus (TMI but true) and so that I can actually taste it.
I used frozen spinach for this as it makes the recipe easier and quicker when you are poorly and just want to be sat on the sofa with a good book or a film! Served with lightly toasted left over buns from the weekend this is certainly a winner on the cheap stakes too!
This soup is packed with B vitamins to help build up your energy and help to battle off that cold or flu and also a great source of Iron from the spinach.
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INGREDIENTS:
50 g margarine (I use Pure)
1 large onion, chopped
3 cloves of garlic, crushed
1.5 tsp cumin seeds
1.5 tsp ground coriander
pinch of ground nutmeg
pinch of ground cinnamon
5 cm knob of ginger finely grated
1 large red chilli, deseeded and diced
0.5 tsp chilli flakes (leave out if you don’t want as much of a kick)
0.5 tsp ground cardamom seeds
200 g dry green or brown lentils
1.2 l vegetable stock
500 g frozen spinach
200 ml soya cream
seasoning to taste
METHOD:
Melt the butter in a large pan or stock pot, then add the onions and spices and chilli, stirring through
Fry over a medium heat for 5-8 minutes until the onion is softened and the spices aromatic
Add the lentils and stir into the mixture for 2 minutes
Pour in the stock, bring to the boil
Reduce heat and allow to simmer, covered, for 1 hour
Weigh out the frozen spinach and allow to thaw slightly
When the timer goes off for the hour, add the spinach to the mixture along with a little more water if needed, stir through
Simmer, covered, for another 10 minutes until the spinach has broken down and mixed in
Add the cream and stir thorough then give it a quick blitz with a hand blender (if you like the soup with less texture, blitz for longer)
For the toasted buns, slice the buns in half and spray a little bit of olive oil onto the inside only and grill until golden
And enjoy!
This is a deliciously hearty soup which freezes well and is also fantastic for leftovers the next day as the flavours enhance. As such, if you are sensitive to chilli heat, you might want to reduce it to half a chilli or a milder one.
Let me know what you think in the comments below!
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Share the recipe with friends easily! Click to tweet!
- 50 g margarine (I use Pure)
- 1 large onion, chopped
- 3 cloves of garlic, crushed
- 1.5 tsp cumin seeds
- 1.5 tsp ground coriander
- pinch of ground nutmeg
- pinch of ground cinnamon
- 5 cm knob of ginger finely grated
- 1 large red chilli, deseeded and diced
- 0.5 tsp chilli flakes (leave out if you don’t want as much of a kick)
- 0.5 tsp ground cardamom seeds
- 200 g dry green or brown lentils
- 1.2 l vegetable stock
- 500 g frozen spinach
- 200 ml soya cream
- seasoning to taste
- Melt the butter in a large pan or stock pot, then add the onions and spices and chilli, stirring through
- Fry over a medium heat for 5-8 minutes until the onion is softened and the spices aromatic
- Add the lentils and stir into the mixture for 2 minutes
- Pour in the stock, bring to the boil
- Reduce heat and allow to simmer, covered, for 1 hour
- Weigh out the frozen spinach and allow to thaw slightly
- When the timer goes off for the hour, add the spinach to the mixture along with a little more water if needed, stir through
- Simmer, covered, for another 10 minutes until the spinach has broken down and mixed in
- Add the cream and stir thorough then give it a quick blitz with a hand blender (if you like the soup with less texture, blitz for longer)
- For the toasted buns, slice the buns in half and spray a little bit of olive oil onto the inside only and grill until golden
- And enjoy!
- This is a deliciously hearty soup which freezes well and is also fantastic for leftovers the next day as the flavours enhance. As such, if you are sensitive to chilli heat, you might want to reduce it to half a chilli or a milder one.
