Lentil and Leek Soup

A traditional Scottish soup. Made with boiled carrots, half of a medium sized leek, and 200g of red lentils. Plus herbs and chicken stock.

The vegetables were boiled first, along with the lentils, with a little salt. Cooked for forty minutes, and then mashed together.

After that the contents of the pot were blended with an electric blender. Coriander leaf was added, plus some black pepper,  along with chicken stock. 

Served with two slices of a wheat free bloomer loaf (Warburtons). Easy to make, and delicious!

Blended Tomato and Lentil Soup

Blended tomato and lentil soup. Made with celery, Bramley apple, tinned tomatoes, red onion,  red lentils, and vegetable stock, plus oregano, basil and parsley.

The vegetables were boiled first until tender. Then the tomatoes were added, and the red lentils. After ten minutes or so, the herbs and the vegetable stock were added.

After another ten minutes of cooking at a medium heat under glass, everything was thoroughly blended using a hand blender.

Cooked for another ten minutes, by which time the soup was ready to serve.

Leek, Carrot, Kale and Lentil Soup

A simple and delicious soup made with diced leek, several diced carrots, some finely chopped curly kale (a form of cabbage which looks more like seaweed), and a third of a cup of red lentils.

The vegetables were prepared first, and added to a pot of boiling water. I added the vegetable stock, and simmered the soup under glass for half an hour.

The contents of the pan were then mashed, and the herbs and the pepper were added. Simmered under glass for another half an hour or so, after which the soup can be served.

Accompanied by two lightly toasted potato scones.

Lentil, Leek and Sprout Soup

A nutrition packed soup made with Brussels sprouts, carrot, leek, lentils, potato and chicken stock.

All the vegetables were boiled together in a pint of water. I used about 12 sprouts, 2 medium carrots, one medium leek, and some leftover boiled potato. Plus half a cup of red lentils. Cooked for half an hour to forty minutes.

I mashed the vegetables for a minute, and then used an electric blender for another minute. After blending, avoid high heat, or the soup may burn at the bottom of the pan (stir frequently!). Then I added a quarter teaspoonful of turmeric, a pinch of paprika, the chicken stock, two splashes of Worcester sauce, and a large pinch each of oregano.and Herbes de Provence.

Stir together, and simmer under glass for another ten minutes before serving. Add more water if it becomes too thick. Served with a toasted garlic and coriander flatbread. Delicious!

Lentil and Red Pepper Soup

A delicious soup made with a third of a cupful of red lentils, half a red pepper (diced), one julienned white onion, three finely diced brussels sprouts, one medium sized carrot, also diced, some turmeric and paprika, and vegetable stock.

Simmered under glass for forty-five minutes, before the vegetables were mashed. The turmeric and paprika  were added (half a teaspoonful and a pinch respectively) and stirred through the mix. After which the vegetable stock was added. Simmered again for twenty minutes,

Serve with white pepper. 

Mushroom, Carrot and Lentil Soup

A delicious winter soup made with some basic ingredients, including lentils, carrot, spinach, red onion, Brussels sprouts, spring onion, butter, and vegetable stock. Made a bit more interesting with the addition of red pepper, mushrooms and herbs.

The mushrooms, red onion and peppers were cooked first in a little butter, for about twenty minutes, until the onion began to brown.

Once browned, the mushrooms etc were decanted into a pot containing the lentils, grated carrot, chopped spinach leaves, spring onion, diced Brussels sprouts, and the vegetable stock. Boiled together for forty five minutes.

Added were the herbs sage and herbes de provence. Plus some black pepper and Worcester sauce. A great winter warmer.

Served with toasted potato bread.

Carrot, Lentil and Potato Soup

This is one of those dishes created to use up surplus items in the fridge. In this case some carrots, boiled potato, and the remains of a savoy cabbage.

The soup base was made with two grated carrots, diced apple, one chopped Spanish onion, and a third of a cup of red lentils. Cooked at a low heat under glass for half an hour.

After that the boiled potato and the chopped cabbage were added, plus the vegetable stock. Cook under glass for another half hour or so, then add dried marjoram and oregano. Serve with black or white pepper. Simple and delicious!

Pork and Potato Madras Curry

A delicious curry made with one whole chopped leek (topped and tailed), about 100g of fresh green beans, chopped into centimetre lengths, one diced pork steak, boiled potato, finger chilli, and garlic, and one quarter cupful of red lentils.

Stir-fry the leek in a little sunflower oil at a high heat, stirring frequently. When the leek begins to brown, add the green beans and turn the heat down low.

After two or three minutes of stirring, add boiling water (about half a pint), a dessert spoonful of Madras curry powder, and add the cupful of lentils. Add the chopped pork, and boiled potato. Add more water if the curry over-thickens.

Add three finger chillies, chopped ginger, and a diced clove of garlic. Add vegetable stock, and half a teaspoonful of black pepper. Simmer for 45 minutes under glass before serving.

Lentil, Leek, and Green Bean Soup

A delicious soup made with one whole chopped leek (topped and tailed), about 100g of fresh green beans, chopped into centimetre lengths, and one quarter cupful of red lentils.

Stir-fry the leek in a little sunflower oil at a high heat, stirring frequently. When the leek begins to brown, add the green beans and turn the heat down low. After two or three minutes of stirring, add boiling water (about half a pint), and add the cupful of lentils. Add more water if the soup over-thickens. Add vegetable stock, and half a teaspoonful of black pepper.

Allow the soup to simmer under glass for at least an hour at a low heat. Serve with bread (in this case wheat-free Genius bread).

Leek and Chorizo Soup

A pretty simple soup, made with one large leek, three carrots, 100g of spelt grain, 50g of green lentils, and around 150g of chorizo sausage.

The vegetables were cooked for 45 minutes in water until all were soft. Then they were mashed for two minutes.

Diced chorizo was added, and the soup was cooked for another hour at a low heat under glass.

Add two pinches of rosemary, and a teaspoonful of Lea and Perrins Worcestershire sauce, ten minutes before the cooking is complete.

Serve with buttered bread (wheat free or otherwise).

Chicken, Spinach and Runner-Bean Soup

Lots of cheap food on offer from the local Co-op yesterday, so I roasted some chicken drumsticks last night, and made a soup base today with one medium leek, about 250g of Moroccan runner-beans (blended once the water came to the boil).

I chopped up two handfuls of fresh spinach leaves and added them to the pot. Plus some chicken stock and black pepper.

Remove the chicken meat from three drumsticks, and cut into small pieces. Add to the pot, along with a small handful of red lentils.

Cooks in an hour or so under glass at a low heat (stir occasionally to prevent the lentils from sticking to the bottom of the pot).

Another version of this soup features a handful of fresh coriander leaves. Delicious either way!

Leek, Lentil, and Mustard Ham Soup

A simple soup made with a limited number of ingredients - One large leek, half a cup of red lentils, 150g of fine beans, chopped, fresh basil leaves,  and 100g of mustard ham trimmings. Supplemented with ham stock, and white pepper.

The leek was topped and tailed, chopped in half, and then finely chopped transversely. Added to a pot of boiling water, along with the half cup of red lentils. The chopped (Kenyan) fine beans were added shortly afterwards (they cook quicker than the leek).

The ham trimmings were diced into smaller chunks, and added to the soup base after the pot had been simmering for at least thirty minutes (forty-five minutes is better), and the contents had been mashed.

Cooked for a further forty-five minutes at a low heat under glass. No herbs or spices, apart from the finely chopped basil leaves,  though you could add some paprika, oregano, or coriander, according to taste.

Leek and Lentil Soup, with Coriander, Cardamom and Cumin

A simple and tasty soup made in an hour. One large leek, a pinch of coriander leaf, seeds from six cardamom pods, a pinch of cumin seed, a dash of turmeric, a handful of green lentils, plus vegetable and chicken stock.

Chop the leek in half lengthways, then chop each half into small pieces, and place in a pan of boiling water along with the lentils. Cook until tender (half an hour to forty-five minutes). Mash the mixture, and add the coriander, cardamom and cumin seed, and the vegetable and chicken stock.

Blitz the soup with a hand blender for about two seconds, and then add the turmeric (adding this ingredient last means your blender will not be stained yellow!). Cook for another fifteen to twenty minutes under glass at a simmer. Ready to serve!

Chicken Broth

A great winter warmer of a soup. Made with chopped turnip or swede, two potatoes, two carrots, two small onions (or a medium sized leek), spinach, chicken stock, sage, a small handful of spelt grains, black pepper, and a third of a cup of green lentils (red lentils will do instead). Plus chopped breast of chicken.

The soup base should be prepared first. The lentils, the spelt grains,and the chopped vegetables should added to a pan of boiling water, and cooked at a low simmer under glass for twenty to twenty five minutes until soft. Then use a masher for one or two minutes to produce the broth consistency.

Add the chicken stock, a large pinch of sage, and a few shakes of ground black pepper. Stir together.

The chicken was pre-fried on the previous evening (bought from a supermarket close to the sell-by date), and stored in the fridge. The chicken breast should be chopped into small pieces and added to the pot. Stir into the broth. Simmer under glass for at least half an hour before serving. Even better on the next day, which is often the case with soups.

Lentil and Green Bean Soup

A great winter soup, made with half a cup of red lentils, 150g of chopped green beans, half a chopped parsnip, three chopped carrots, one stick of celery, chopped Cavolo Nero cabbage (from Tuscany), one chopped potato, one quarter red onion, a pinch of coriander leaf, four dashes of Tabasco sauce, one dash of Squid brand fish sauce. and two chicken stock cubes. 

All the vegetables were prepared and added to boiling water in the soup pan along with the chicken stock, coriander, Tabasco and fish sauces. Cook for forty five minutes, turning the heat right down, and covering the pan with a glass lid. Stir Occasionally. Then the contents were mashed for two minutes, and allowed to simmer under glass for another hour. Serve with buttered bread (or wheat free bread). 

Lentil and Green Bean Soup

Chicken Tikka Massala

Stir fried (or steamed) chicken breast pieces. The sauce was made separately with Tikka spice powder, with tomato puree, chopped mushrooms, onion, orange pepper, chicken stock, chopped chilli peppers, and some chopped boiled potato. The chicken pieces were added to the Tikka Sauce, and cooked for fifteen to twenty minutes before serving. The ingredients listed below can be added too (yoghurt, coconut, ground almond, etc). And you can start with a lentil and onion dahl.

What is a tikka massala? Normally this is understood to be a chicken dish, marinated in spices and yogurt, which is then baked in an oven, and served in a masala sauce, which is a mix of spices, whose main basis is tomato and coriander, but there is no standard recipe for chicken tikka masala.

The spices which are used commercially are hard to discover, which suggests that the story that Chicken Massala is a dish invented in an Indian restaurant in Glasgow sometime during the past 50 years,  may be true. The Tikka spices I used were bought in powder form (as Tikka spices) from a large supermarket. It's a good guess that if you start with the standard curry spices, add tomato and more coriander, yoghurt, shredded coconut, ground almonds, and tomato puree, lentils and onion, you will have an excellent tikka massala dahl. 

Chicken Tikka Massala

Turkey Tikka Massala

Hot curry made with diced turkey breast, a tikka massala flavoured dahl, made with lentil and onion, tomato puree, coriander, yoghurt, ground almonds and shredded coconut. The turkey breast was stir fried in sunflower oil, and was then added to the tikka massala dahl, and cooked for twenty minutes at a moderate heat. Served with basmati rice. Also great to eat with Naan bread.

What is a tikka massala? Normally this is understood to be a chicken dish (for which turkey breast is a good substitute), marinated in spices and yogurt, which is then baked in an oven, and served in a masala sauce, which is a mix of spices, whose main basis is tomato and coriander, but there is no standard recipe for chicken tikka masala.

The spices which are used commercially are hard to discover, which suggests that the story that Chicken Massala is a dish invented in an Indian restaurant in Glasgow sometime during the past 50 years,  may be true. The Tikka spices I used were bought in powder form (as Tikka spices) from a large supermarket. It's a good guess that if you start with the standard curry spices, add tomato and more coriander, yoghurt, shredded coconut, ground almonds, and tomato puree, lentils and onion, you will have an excellent tikka massala dahl. 

Turkey Tikka Massala 

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