Carrot & Red Lentil Soup

Last year, we grew a small bed of carrots.  Beyond unearthing a couple, which were decidedly green  - the green bits are safe to eat but taste like eating carrot tops - we didn’t get around to unearthing more until earlier this month.  OMG, I have never seen so many deformed carrots!

They’re multi-coloured, which surprised us, until we found the label.  Turned out that we planted a rainbow packet of purple, yellow and white carrots as well as the traditional orange.   How anybody grows straight carrots is beyond me.  These were planted in a new, raised bed, which was filled with fresh compost, and they still turned out looking like mutants!  Seriously, this one looks like he’s got a lizard’s head.

Today, I turned some of the larger mutants into soup for lunch.  Four of them, including the beast above   This is inspired by a recipe from Leites Culinaria., (I just utilised their spicing.)

Ingredients

1-2 tablespoons oil

1 onion, peeled and roughly chopped

1 large clove garlic, crushed

1 tablespoon grated ginger

4 large carrots, peeled and sliced

1 cup/200g split red lentils

2 litres boiling water

2 chicken stock cubes

1 teaspoon ground coriander

1 teaspoon ground cumin

Salt and pepper to taste


Method

1. Heat the oil in a large saucepan and gently fry the onion, garlic and ginger until the onion is soft.
2. Stir in the coriander and cumin and fry until the aroma rises.
3. Pour over the boiling water.  Add all the remaining ingredients and simmer for 20 minutes or until the carrot and lentils are soft.
4. Blend in the saucepan with an electric stick blender. 
5. Check the seasoning and serve with fresh bread.

Enjoy!

- Pam (As you can see from the photo above, I like my soups to have a bit of texture.)