Recipe: Spicy Carrot Soup with Greek Yogurt & Coriander Lime Oil (2024)

Ingredients

Scale

• 1/2 tbsp Cumin Seeds
• Large Pinch Chilli Flakes (Red Pepper)
• 1/2 tbsp Olive Oil
• 500g (17.5 oz) Carrots, roughly grated or finely sliced
• 100g (4 oz) Split Red Lentils
• 750ml (3 1/4 cups) Chicken (you can make your own here) or Vegetable Stock
• Sea Salt & Freshly Ground Black Pepper

• Total (fa*ge) 0% Greek Yogurt
• Small Bunch Fresh Coriander (Cilantro), roughly chopped
• 2 tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• Zest & Juice of 1 Lime

1. Either chop the carrots into tiny pieces (don’t worry about peeling them), or if you don’t have the patience like me, I think Gizzi’s suggestion from the book to just roughly grate them is fantastic.
2. Heat a large saucepan and dry fry the cumin seeds and the chilli flakes for about a minute, making sure they don’t burn but when they release their lovely Indian aromas.
3. Add the oil, carrot and lentils to the pan and fry for another few minutes until the carrot starts to soften a little.
4. Add the stock and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat to medium, and allow to simmer for 15 minutes.
5. Meanwhile, make the Coriander Lime Oil. The whole thing is pretty simple. Add your roughly chopped coriander to a mortar and pestle, bash to a paste, add the oil and lime zest and muddle together until well combined. You can obviously forgo chopping the coriander all together and do the whole thing in a mini chopper if you have one, but I think a good mortar and pestle is a fantastic investment for making sauces, dressings and curries, especially for a student. You can even use it to make mayonnaise. I use a ceramic Cole & Mason mortar and pestle, which while it was given to me by the guys at Cole & Mason and John Lewis, I would still be waxing lyrical about it anyway, as it is one of the best pieces of kitchen equipment I’ve ever had (because probably, because I don’t have the space for it and I can always use my Mother’s at home I have not taken the new cream Kenwood K-Mix I got for Christmas out of its box). My ceramic one will set you back £25, but for a bit more they also do lovely marble ones.
6. Remove the soup from the heat and using a stick blender puree until smooth. Add the cream and season with lots of sea salt and black pepper, and whizz up again.
7. Return to the heat to make sure it is heated through, and serve with a good dollop of Greek yogurt and a drizzle of the Coriander Lime Oil on top of each bowl.