Spicy butternut & chickpea soup

Served with 'Fresh Earth' brown bread and a glass of Elberti Merlot wine

Serves 4 --- Preparation time 10 minutes --- Cooking time 20-30 minutes

What you'll need:

1 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, peeled and roughly chopped
1 heaped tsp harissa paste*
1 heaped tsp crushed garlic
1 tsp crushed fresh ginger
1/2 teaspoon each of turmeric, cumin seeds and ground cinnamon
5 medium carrots, peeled and roughly chopped
1 kg butternut, peeled and chopped
1 x 410g can chopped peeled tomatoes
375ml vegetable stock
1/2 cup red lentils, rinsed well
1 x 400g can chickpeas, drained
1/2 tsp dried chilli flakes
a small handful of chopped fresh coriander
vegan cheese shavings

What to do: 

• Heat  the oil in a medium-sized pot over a medium-high heat and fry the onion for 3-5 minutes until it starts to soften. Add the harissa paste, garlic, ginger, turmeric, cumin seeds and cinnamon, and fry for 2-3 minutes until the spices become fragrant.
• Add the carrots, butternuts, tomatoes and stock.  Turn up the heat and let the soup boil for about 10 min, and then add the lentils. Continue cooking for about 10 min, stirring occasionally.
• Once the butternut start to soften, roughly mash it and stir it into the soup. The soup is ready when the butternut has blended well with the rest of the ingredients.
• Add the chickpeas and chill, stirring to heat through.
• Sprinkle individual servings with the coriander and vegan cheese shavings (I used Vegusto piquant cheese).

*( use 1 tbsp tomato paste mixed with 1 tsp dried chill flakes if you don't have harissa paste)


This recipe has been adapted from the original 'Spicy butternut and chickpea soup' from Sarah Duff's blog, 'Veggie Delish'