Cooking Tips
Carrot, lentil and almond soup with wholemeal croûtons
A wholesome, hearty carrot soup made with almond butter and topped with crunchy baked almonds and paprika-flecked croûtons.
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 onion, finely chopped
- 3 large garlic cloves (or 4 small cloves), finely chopped
- 3 carrots (about 360g/12½oz), roughly chopped
- 1 heaped tsp curry powder
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 200g/7oz dried red lentils
- 2 tbsp almond butter
- 1 litre/1¾ pints vegetable stock (made with 1 stock cube)
- 1 wholemeal bread roll
- generous pinch smoked paprika
- 30g/1oz almonds
- salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- dried chilli flakes, to garnish (optional)
- handful finely chopped fresh parsely, to garnish
Method
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Heat the oil in a large pan over a low heat and then fry the onions, garlic and carrots for 5 minutes, or until the onion softens.
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Add the curry powder and cumin and fry for a further minute.
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Add the lentils, almond butter, and stock and simmer for 20–25 minutes, or until the carrots are soft and the lentils are cooked.
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Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 180C/160C Fan/Gas 4. Tear the wholemeal bread roll into croûton-sized pieces. Using your hands, coat the croûtons with a small amount of olive oil. Place the croûtons onto one half of a large baking tray, sprinkle over the smoked paprika and season with salt and pepper. Put the almonds on the other half of the tray. Bake for around 8 minutes. Keep checking on the croûtons to ensure that they don’t burn.
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Once the carrots and lentils are cooked, using a handheld blender, blend the soup until smooth.
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Roughly chop the almonds.
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Serve the soup topped with the wholegrain croûtons, and chopped almonds, and garnish with a small sprinkle of dried chilli flakes and fresh parsley. Season with salt and pepper, if needed.
Carrot, lentil and almond soup with wholemeal croûtons