Curried Vegetable Soup

We had a lovely warming winter soup last night,its the type of soup that warms you from the inside.  A curried vegetable soup...much to my husbands dismay that i made a meal with no meat in it (he did end up enjoying it in the end) 

Here is the recipe for you to make...

Cheat's Curried Vegetable Soup

Serves 6

Preparation 25 minutes

Cooking Time 40 minutes

2 tablespoons sunflower oil

1 onion, finely

2 garlic cloves, finely chopped

4 teaspoons ready-made mild curry paste

2.5cm (1 inch) piece of fresh root ginger, peeled, grated

2 small baking potatoes, diced

2 carrots, diced

1 small cauliflower, core discarded, florets cut into small pieces

75g red lentils

1.5 litres vegetable or chicken stock

400g can chopped tomatoes

200g spinach leaves, rinsed and any large leaves torn into pieces

Raita

150g low-fat natural yogurt

4 tablespoons chopped coriander leaves

4 teaspoons mango chutney

Heat the oil in a large saucepan, add the onion and fry for 5 minutes, stirring until softened. Stir in the garlic, curry paste and ginger and cook for 1 minute.

Mix in the potatoes, carrots, cauliflower and lentils. Pour in the stock and tomatoes, season with salt and pepper and bring to the boil. Cover and simmer for 30 minutes or until the lentils are tender.

Meanwhile, mix the yogurt, coriander and mango chutney together to make the raita and spoon into a small bowl.

Add the spinach to the soup and cook for 2 minutes until just wilted. Taste and adjust the seasoning if needed. Ladle the soup into shallow bowls, top with spoonfuls of raita. Serve with warmed naan breads, if liked.

{for curried aubergine soup} fry the onion with 2 dices aubergines until the aubergines are lightly browned. Stir in the garlic, curry paste and ginger and cook as above. Add the potatoes, carrots, lentils, stock and tomatoes, omitting the cauliflower. After 30 minutes simmering, puree the soup in a blender or food processor then reheat. Omit the spinach, serve with a swirl of natural yogurt, a little chopped coriander and poppadums.

Enjoy!