“Carrot is a great fit with ginger, cumin and sour yoghurt – the perfect ingredients for a tasty soup. Are you a carrot enthusiast? Replace the water with carrot juice for a more intense carrot flavour. Harissa is a strong North African spice paste made with ingredients that include chilli, garlic, cumin, caraway and coriander seeds. If you eat dairy products, you can use high-fat yoghurt instead of the vegan alternative.” – Ylva Bergqvist
SERVES 4
Ingredients
For the soup:
1 yellow onion, diced
2 garlic cloves, crushed
olive oil, for frying and to serve
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground coriander
50g ginger
700g carrots, peeled and coarsely grated
2 tbsp concentrated vegetable stock
1 litre water
salt
200g dairy-free yoghurt, to serve
For the orange-marinated lentils:
100g dried red lentils
big bunch of flat-leaf parsley or coriander leaves, chopped
1 spring onion, finely shredded
juice of ½ orange
½ tsp harissa or chilli flakes
1 tsp ground cumin
2 tbsp olive oil
salt
Method
Fry the onion and garlic in a little oil in a saucepan until soft for around 5 minutes over a medium-low heat while stirring. Raise the heat, add the spices and fry for 2 minutes while stirring.
Peel and finely grate the ginger, squeeze out the juice and save it. Discard the remains.
Add the carrots, ginger juice, stock and water to the pan. Simmer over a medium heat for around 15 minutes under a lid until the carrots are soft.
In the meantime, boil the lentils in salted water and cook for exactly 2 minutes under a lid. Remove from the heat, stir and leave with the lid on for around 2 minutes. Stir and taste them. If they are suitably al dente, you can drain the water. Otherwise leave them to stand for another minute or so.
Combine the rest of the ingredients for the orange marinade and pour over the lentils while they are still warm. Season with salt.
Blend the soup until smooth and season again with salt, to taste. Warm it up again and, if necessary, dilute with more water.
Top the soup with the lentil mixture and a dollop of yoghurt. Drizzle lightly with olive oil.
30-Minute Vegetarian by Ylva Bergqvist (Hardie Grant, £16.99) Photography © Lennart Weibull
