Pantry Diaries: Pumpkin-Lentil Soup with a Punch
Do my lazy days never end? No, they do not. Last night I found myself with some veggies and potatoes in need of eating. The easiest thing to do is to throw them all in a pot and make some soup. I did just that! Well, almost, soup is a yummy winter dish but wanted to make it a little more interesting so I roasted some veggies in the oven for toppings.
I was pleasantly surprised by the result. The dried chili-pepper and garlic combined created some heat in this veggie soup and the roasted vegetables on top brought out the individual flavours really well.
I lived in Asia for four years so I love spicy food but it was almost too much for my other half. Just play around with the amounf of pepper you add depending on your taste. I am a real sucker for garlic; possibly due to my years in Austria where garlic is added to everything. You could reduce or omit the garlic too, but the flavour really adds to the soup in my opinion. Beware that garlic intensifies the heat.
Serve the soup with a baguette and (vegan) herbed butter or cheese if dining with bottomless pits like I usually am.
I promise it tastes way better than it looks.
Serves: 2-3
Time: 45 minutes (including prep and oven pre-heating), 30 minutes if you are not roasting vegetables
Ingredients
Soup can be made with any variety of vegetables and stock. I used the following:
Soup
- Potatoes - 6 small ones
- 1 carrot
- approx. 100g green lentils
- 1/2 small hokkaido pumpkin
- 1 slice of zuchini
- 2 cloves of garlic
- 1 dried pepper
- Vegetable Oil
- Vegetable Stock (750ml and powder/cube according to isntructions)
Roasted Veggies
- 1 bell pepper
- 3 carrots
- Zuchini
- olive oil
- salt, pepper, dried garlic
Tomato 'Salad' - 2 tomatoes
- Balsamic Vinegar
- Parsley
- 1 clove of garlic
Instructions
1. Pre-heat the oven to 200°C.
2. Peel and dice potatos, 1 carrot, and pumpkin for soup.
3. Prep oven vegetables - peel, slice, dice - mix with some oil and spices
4. Spread vegetables on the oven tray and leave for 20-30 minutes.
5. Heat vegetable oil at the bottom of your soup pan and add crushed garlic and dried pepper.
6. Leave for 1-2 minutes then add appro.750ml (boiled) water, stock, and all soup vegetables.
7. Boil for approx. 15 minutes or untill you can stick your fork in the potatoes.
8. Take seeds and water out of tomatoes and dice them.
9. Mix tomatoes with 1 crushed garlic clove, parsley, and a splash of balsemic vinegar.
10. Puree soup with a hand mixer. Chunky or smooth depending on what you like,
11. Serve soup topped with grilled vegetables and tomato 'Salad'
