Spicy Lentil & Chickpea Soup

Time for more soup… and more flatbread! I think this flatbread recipe will become my go-to soup accompaniment- made fresh it’s just so good! This time I made it using spelt flour plus baking powder (use 3 tsp baking powder per 200g spelt flour) and it was so soft and fluffy with an amazingly crisp crust.

This spiced lentil soup was lovely and warming helped along by a chilli kick! The lentils and chickpeas also made for a great protein packed meal. If you wanted to bulk it up a little more or didn’t have any bread to hand you could top it with some cous-cous instead.

Soups are so easy to make and I always make sure I cook up a big portion and freeze leftovers for work day lunches. I make all my soups in my Thermomix, as it’s perfect for the job as an all-in-one gadget, but I have given the more typical blender method below.

So, after such a virtuous first course….what is for dessert?  May be sticky toffee pudding or chocolate brownie torte?

Or if like me this will become lunch at the office, then keep your eyes peeled for my forthcoming granola bar experiments, the perfect fill-you-up, feel good snack to round things of just nicely!

Recipe: Spicy lentil and chickpea soup

Serves 4

Ingredients

• 2 tsp cumin seeds
• ½ tsp chilli flakes
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 red onion (diced)
• 150g red lentils
• 900ml vegetable stock
• 400g can chopped tomatoes
• 200g cooked/canned chickpeas
• Small handful of coriander
• Dollop of or soy yoghurt or swirl of soy cream to serve

Method

Dry fry cumin and chilli flakes for 1-2 minutes. Add the oil and onion and fry for a further 5 minutes. Stir in lentils, vegetable stock and tomatoes then simmer for 15 minutes. Blend the soup with a hand blender to get a rough puree. Add the chickpeas and simmer for a further 5 minutes. Stir through the roughly chopped coriander and serve with a blob of yoghurt or a swirl or cream.

Left over portions can be frozen.

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Chili Veg Pitta Pockets

Sometimes a meal comes together very haphazardly and not at all how it had been planned. This is one such example….

I will admit I am solely to blame for this scenario since labelling the leftovers to go into my freezer is not always my strong point. I often make the mistake of thinking ‘well it will be obvious what it is, I won’t need to write a label on the bag’.   Hmmm, once frozen solid with ice fuzzing up the outside it isn’t always quite that obvious!

You see, I had thought that I had taken out a portion of soup from the freezer and the plan was to serve this along with a salad and homemade bread rolls, however upon investigation it turned out to be a portion of vegetable chilli… quick rethink, so instead we have an alternative meal for two:

A dish of vegetable chilli

A dish of roasted veg (in this case parsnip, pepper and carrots)

A serving of toasted pittas cut into pockets

A quick and easy DIY fill-your-pittas experience…. the soup can wait for another day!

Recipe: Vegetable chili

Serves 4 

Ingredients

• Large glug of olive oil
• 1 onion- diced
• 2 peppers- cut into chunks
• 1tsp mild chilli powder, 1tsp cumin seeds, 2 cloves of garlic
• 2 medium sweet potatoes- peeled and cut into chunks
• 1 large carrot- peeled and cut up
• 400g tinned tomatoes
• 150g red lentils (pre-soaked)
• 200ml hot vegetable stock
• 400g can red kidney beans
• 50g green beans
• 1 courgette- cut into chunks
• 100g frozen peas
• Tomato puree and hot water- if needed
• (Other vegetables can be added or substituted)

Method

Pre-soak red lentils in hot water for approx. 20 mins. Fry onion in oil for 5 mins, add the peppers, garlic and spices and cook for 2 mins. Stir in the carrot and sweet potato then add the tomatoes, lentils, and vegetable stock. Simmer for 15 mins. Add remaining ingredients- kidney beans, green beans, courgette and frozen peas, and simmer for approx. 10 mins until all vegetable are tender. Addtomato puree with extra water if more sauce is needed. Serve with wholegrain rice or pasta if desired. 

Note- in this recipe I served one portion size of chilli with some extra roasted veggies- I simple cut the veg into batons drizzled over a little olive oil and some salt and pepper then roasted for approx. 20 mins. Warm the pittas in the oven right at the end.

Freeze left over portions in individual bags- label them up (don’t say I didn’t warn you!)

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