Spiced red lentil and winter veggie soup with coconut.
It’s winter time here now and that means our bodies crave lots of warming, hydrating foods full of wintry offerings to keep our immune systems happy and healthy. Think soups, stews, curries etc with lots of liquid in them to help hydrate.
It’s natural for us to be a little more hungry when it’s colder outside, that’s just our bodies way of telling us we need a little more nourishment to keep us warm internally. But now a days to survive the winter and remain feeling healthy at the end it’s ideal that we bulk up on the right foods to support our bodies needs and mother nature does a good job of guiding us right towards seasonal whole foods.
This soup has got to be one of my favourites for an easy knock up that packs a huge nutritional punch and all of the ingredients are usual everyday staples of our fridge and pantry at home. It holds good plant protein from the red lentils which also lends good fibre too, it has lots of immune boosting vitamins from the earthy vegetables and a good healthy serve of anti inflammatory and digestive spices which help give this soup a huge flavour boost. Finished off with some lovely good fats and sweetness from the coconut this soup is pretty much an all rounder which will leave you all warm and fuzzy in the end and the kids absolutely love it too.
My children love a spoon of natural organic yoghurt in just about anything so same goes for this soup!
Recipe: Serves 6-8
Prep time : 10 minutes
Cook time: 1 hour
Ingredients:
3 tbs coconut oil
2 onions, chopped
3 large carrots, chopped
4 cloves garlic
1 thumb size piece of ginger, grated
200g sweet potato, diced
200g pumkin, diced
2 tsp ground turmeric
1 tsp paprika
2 tbs ground coriander
1 tsp ground cumin
2 cups red lentils, very well rinsed
2 ripe tomatoes, chopped
1 zucchini (200g) chopped
2 litres water or broth
400ml organic coconut milk
Method:
In a large heavy based pot heat the oil over medium heat and add the onion and carrot and cook for 5 minutes until beginning to soften, add in the garlic and ginger and cook for a minute or so until they smell delicious and beginning to colour slightly. Add in the sweet potato and pumpkin along with the spices and a teaspoon of sea salt if using, fry the spices for a minute or so and then add the lentils and the water or broth.
Bring to a simmer and reduce heat to medium/low and cook for around 1 hour until all the vegetables are tender and the lentils are soft.
Stir through the coconut milk and bring back to simmer. If it looks a little too thick then add more liquid until you reach your desired consistency, remembering though, the milk will thin down a little also.
Blend with a stick blender until smooth and creamy.
