Spiced Carrot & Ginger Soup

• 1 kgcarrots, peeled and roughly chopped
• salt and black pepper
• 1large onion, roughly chopped
• 40 gfresh ginger, peeled and grated
• 2 tspground cumin
• ½ tspdried chilli flakes
• 3garlic cloves, crushed
• 400 mlfull-fat coconut milk
• 1litre vegetable stock
• 3 tbspolive oil
• 1orange, zested and juiced
• 1 tspground coriander
• 100 gdried red lentils, rinsed

Method

1. 1Warm the olive oil in a heavy pot over medium heat. Add the chopped onion with a generous pinch of salt and cook for 7–8 minutes, stirring now and then, until soft, translucent, and just starting to catch gold at the edges. Salt early; it draws the water out and sweetens the onion as it cooks.
2. 2Stir in the crushed garlic and grated ginger and cook for 30 seconds, just until fragrant.
3. 3Add the cumin, ground coriander, and chilli flakes. Fry them in the oil for 45–60 seconds, stirring constantly, until they smell warm and toasted.
4. 4Tip in the chopped carrots and rinsed red lentils, stirring to coat every piece in the spiced oil. Cook for 3–4 minutes so the carrots take on the flavour of the base before any liquid hits them.
5. 5Pour in the vegetable stock and the orange juice. Bring to a boil, then drop to a gentle simmer with the lid partially on for 25–30 minutes, until a knife slides through a carrot with no resistance and the lentils have collapsed into the liquid.
6. 6Off the heat, blend until completely silky; stick blender in the pot, or in batches in a jug blender with the lid vented under a tea towel. Hot soup expands fast, so don't fill the jug past halfway.
7. 7Return the pan to a low heat. Stir in the coconut milk and orange zest and warm through for 5 minutes without letting it boil; boiling splits the coconut. Taste, season with salt and a good crack of black pepper, then taste again. It should be silky, warming, and faintly sweet.
8. 8Ladle into bowls, swirl in a spoonful of coconut milk, drizzle over the extra virgin olive oil, and finish with a coarse crack of black pepper at the table. To batch, cool completely before freezing in individual portions; keeps for up to 3 months.

Per serving

kcal

535

protein

13.9g

fibre

13.8g

carbs

53.7g

fat

32.4g