Spiced Butternut & Red Lentil Soup

Ingredients

• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 large onion, diced
• 1 thumb-sized piece ginger, grated
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tsp turmeric
• 0.5 tsp chilli flakes
• 2 tbsp vegetable oil
• 1 tsp ground coriander
• 200 g red lentils, rinsed
• 1 butternut squash, about 900g, peeled and diced
• salt and black pepper
• 1 x 400ml tin coconut milk
• 800 ml vegetable stock
• 1 lime, juiced
• toasted pumpkin seeds and chilli oil, to serve
• Crusty sourdough bread, to serve
• Natural yoghurt, to serve
• warm naan bread, to serve
• mango chutney, to serve
• cucumber raita, to serve

Method

1. Heat the oil in a heavy pot over medium heat. Add the onion with a good pinch of salt and cook for 7–8 minutes until softened, golden at the edges and sweet-smelling — the salt pulls the water out and helps it colour rather than steam.
2. Stir in the garlic and ginger and cook for 30 seconds, just until fragrant — don't let the garlic catch and turn pale gold to brown, or the whole pot turns bitter.
3. Add the cumin, coriander, turmeric and chilli flakes and bloom them in the oil for 45–60 seconds, stirring constantly. Raw ground spices taste dusty; bloomed in hot oil they wake up and taste of themselves. The kitchen should smell warm and toasty.
4. Tip in the butternut squash and carrot and stir to coat in the spice paste. Cook for 3 minutes so the edges take on a little colour and pick up the spice.
5. Add the rinsed red lentils, coconut milk and vegetable stock. Stir well, scraping anything stuck on the base into the liquid, and bring up to the boil.
6. Drop to a gentle simmer and cook for 20–25 minutes, stirring now and then, until the squash collapses when pressed against the side of the pan and the lentils have surrendered into the broth.
7. Blitz with a stick blender until completely smooth and silky. Loosen with a splash more stock if it feels too thick — it should coat the back of a spoon, not sit on it.
8. Stir in the lime juice off the heat, then season generously with salt and plenty of black pepper. Taste, season, taste again — it should be warming, sweet from the squash, and lifted by the citrus. Adjust now, not at the table.
9. Ladle into deep bowls, scatter with toasted pumpkin seeds, zigzag the chilli oil over the surface, and serve with warm naan, mango chutney and cucumber raita alongside.