Winter Warming Red Lentil & Seaweed Soup

GLUTEN-FREE | DAIRY-FREE | VEGAN

Serves 6

A thick and hearty nutritious soup that’s perfect for cold evenings, especially after winter walks. The seaweed adds a smokey taste, as well as additional nutrients, and the chilli gives it a little ‘kick’.

To be honest, we’ve never cooked with seaweed before, let alone even really tasted it (aside from in miso soups or as crispy seaweed and everyone knows that’s not even really seaweed) so it felt a bit like we were going in blind. There was a lot of experimenting, be sure of that, until we had a recipe that didn’t compromise on taste or texture – we didn’t want the main flavour to be too green and salty – and this is pretty umami-tastic; Kombu is said to have a fifth taste quality, umami. It also aids digestability of foods and is a good source of calcium and iodine (essential for hormone and thyroid function). It actually contains so much iodine that you have to soak it first to remove some of the iodine!

You can also make this in large batches and freeze it for dinners later in the month. Serve with a side of green veg or some eye bread to turn it into a larger meal.

Ingredients

• 3 medium-sized carrots
• 1 white onion
• 1cm ginger
• 2cm fresh turmeric or 2tsp ground
• 2 tsp cumin
• 2tsp paprika
• 1 small red chilli
• Half a pack of Cornish Seaweed Company Kombu
• 1 tbsp coconut oil
• 2 cups dried red lentils
• 3 pints vegetable stock
• 1 can coconut milk
• 1 can tomatoes

Method

1. Soak the seaweed in a bowl of cold water for 30 minutes and preheat the oven to 180’C.
2. Peel and chop the carrots.
3. Chop the onion.
4. Peel and finely chop the turmeric and ginger.
5. Chop the chilli, removing the seeds.
6. On a low heat in a thick bottomed saucepan, add the coconut oil. When melted, add the carrot, onion, chilli, ginger and turmeric and fry for 10 minutes.
7. Add the spices and stir for 2-3 minutes.
8. Add the vegetable stock, lentils, coconut milk and tomatoes and stir well. Leave to cook for 10 minutes on a low heat.
9. Rinse the seaweed well and chop finely. Save 1/8 of it for roasting and decoration. Add the rest to the soup and cook for a further 20 minutes.
10. Coat the seaweed that you have put aside for roasting with a little coconut oil. Place on a tray and roast for 10 minutes until crispy.
11. The lentils should now be soft. Turn down the heat and leave to cool for 5-10 minutes.
12. Blend everything together – the seaweed won’t blend entirely so don’t worry if you can still see it! If necessary, add a little more stock until the consistency is to your liking.
13. Serve immediately, garnishing with a little roast seaweed.