Curried Lentil, Carrot and Cashew Soup

Yes, you can have too many carrots. I made this recipe recently in a bid to use up at least some of my carrot glut. I obviously thought I didn’t have any and bought some on a few separate shopping trips. As if that wasn’t enough, I then received a generous bundle in my weekly veg box! I’m surprised my cupboard door could even shut.

I wanted to try something other than the usual carrot and coriander so turned to one of my go-to cook books, ‘Vegie Food’ from Murdoch Books, for inspiration. The Sweet Potato and Pear Soup recipe I shared previously also comes from that book.

Curried Lentil, Carrot and Cashew Soup

Serves 6-8

Difficulty Easy

Suitable for Vegetarian, Vegan (depending on choice of yogurt) and Gluten Free diets

Ingredients

• 1.5 litres vegetable stock
• 750g carrots grated {I couldn’t be bothered grating so diced finely and it didn’t cause any problems}
• 185g red lentils, rinsed and drained
• 1 tablespoon olive oil {I used rapeseed oil}
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 80g unsalted cashew nuts
• 1 tablespoon madras curry paste {I only has Korma paste in so I used that and it worked well}
• 25g chopped coriander leaves and stems
• 125g Greek style yogurt {I used KoKo plain yogurt – again, just because that’s what I had in}

Method

1. Bring the stock to the boil in a large saucepan. Add the carrots and lentils, bring the mixture back to the boil, then simmer over low heat for about 8 minutes, or until the carrots and lentils are soft.
2. Meanwhile, heat the oil in a pan, add the onion and cashews and cook over a medium heat for 2-3 minutes, or until the onion is soft and browned. Add the curry paste and coriander and cook for a further 1 minute, or until fragrant.
3. Stir the cashew mixture into the carrot and lentil mixture.
4. Transfer to a food processor or blender and process in batches until smooth.
5. Return the mixture to the pan and reheat over a medium heat until hot. Season with salt and black pepper to taste and serve with a dollop of yogurt and sprinkling of coriander.

This made a generous batch, easily enough for four of us to enjoy a large bowl each, plus second helpings.

Enjoy!

Val x