Since the weather is still FREEZING I decided to try out a new soup this week which included my love for both spinach and coriander. It’s got quite a few ingredients but it makes a huge batch of soup and it feels like a lovely treat come lunch time. It’s great for using left over veg such as spinach and celery (which we always seem to having knocking around in the fridge) and the ginger, chilli and lemon really give it a lift.
I blended half the soup with a stick blender and left the rest chunky but you can serve it big and chunky or totally smooth, either way its delicious, I just think its more filling having something to chew on! Serve with a tablespoon of fat free natural yoghurt if you fancy!
Ingredients
Serves: 4 = 0sp per serving (Flex)
2 carrots, peeled and sliced
2 sticks of celery, sliced
1 large onion, roughly chopped
1 pepper, deseeded and roughly chopped
2 cloves of garlic, roughly chopped
½ tsp ground cumin and ground coriander
1 vegetable stock cube
100g red lentils (dried)
Thumb sized piece of root ginger peeled and sliced
1 red chilli deseeded and sliced
4 tomatoes, roughly chopped
200g spinach
Bunch of fresh coriander, roughly chopped
Salt and Pepper
Juice of half a lemon
Method
Put the carrots, celery, onion, pepper and garlic together in a pan and spray with 1Kal. Pop over medium heat and cook for 10 minutes until the carrots have softened a bit and the onion is lightly golden. I add a bit of water to make sure the garlic doesn’t stick to the bottom on the pan and burn. Add the cumin and coriander, stir in a cook for a few more minutes.
Add the stock cube to a 1.5 litre jug of boiling water and stir until the stock is dissolved. Pour into the vegetable mixture and then add the lentils, tomatoes, ginger, and chilli. Stir the soup and bring to the boil and then simmer for around 15 minutes (or until lentils are cooked). Next add the spinach and cook for 30 seconds. Blend to your liking leaving it chunky if you like a bit more bite. Then add the fresh coriander and stir.
Season the soup well with salt and pepper and squeeze in the lemon juice!
Enjoy!
Made this last night and just had it for lunch – absolutely delish! OH loved it too & he usually turns his nose up at soup 🙂
So pleased you both enjoyed it Becky!
Your meals are lovely Laura I have your madras curry cooking now I will try this soup tomorrow.
Tucking into a bowl of this beautiful soup as I type! I had to substitute passata for the tomatoes (bad planning on my behalf) so mine is a lot less green than yours, and I’ve left it chunky … but by golly it is good! The warmth of the ginger is great, and works so well in Soup!
Another wonderful recipe… thank you
Xxx
Ah so pleased you like it Debi!
Hi
I really want to try this soup but the problem I have is tomato’s I don’t like them but I don’t mind tin chopped tomatoes do u think I could use them instead? Or swap them out for something else?
Thanks Lisa
Hi Lisa! Yes I would just swap them for half a tin of chopped tomatoes ?
Looks delicious Laura! Just wondering is it free on flex as lentils free on it?
Hi Nicki, yes it is! 🙂
Hi Laura would I be able to make this in a soup machine?
Hi Linda, I’ve never used a soup machine but I don’t see why not, I would leave out the coriander and add this at the end once its blended though x