Making soup while the sun shines

"Soup?" I hear you cry, "in SUMMER?"

Yes. Spicy sweet potato and lentil soup, no less.

I'm souper, thanks for asking

This is my completely unrelated foray into food posts, because I really like food.
I invented it/cobbled together from some delicious bits and bobs, so please forgive the vague measures. FYI, I don't really use salt so add yours to taste, and this is an unintentionally vegan and gluten-free recipe. Serendipity soup!

The ingredients listed below will make 6 generous bowls of homemade, fresh soup.

You will need:

THE STUFF
1x Quite Big Saucepan with a lid
1x Wooden spoon
1x Measuring cups of various proportions - I use my Matryoshka cups because they're super cute and go from 1 cup to a 1/4 cup
1x Teaspoon
1x Chopping board
1x Sharp knife
1x Grater
1x Vegetable peeler
1x Hand blender - I use a 'stick' style one, you can use a 'jug' style blender but let the mixture cool right down first

Matryoshka cups for added cuteness

THE INGREDIENTS
6x Small sweet potatoes - I used the red kind, but you could use the white variety if you like
4x Big carrots
1/2 cup x Red lentils
1x Red onion
4x Garlic cloves - adjust if you want more or less, I personally love garlic and there is no such thing as too much
1 and a 1/2 litre Vegetable stock made with boiling water - I use Kallo brand low sodium stock cubes
1x Glug of vegetable oil
1x Large chili - You can de-seed it if you like, I leave mine whole
1x Teaspoon of cumin
Lots of black pepper
Pinch of dried chili flakes


THE PREP
Peel and chop the red onion, garlic cloves, sweet potatoes and chili. Wash your hands after doing the chili; that stuff is not what you want in your eyes. Trust me.

Top and tail the carrots, peel them and grate them roughly with the grater. They cook so much better grated, as I've found diced carrots take approximately eight years to cook.

Measure out your red lentils, I use dried ones and don't soak them first as you don't need to! If you're using a different variety, follow the soaking/prep instructions for those ones as they might need a specific technique.

Sweep up the lentils your spilt everywhere, fill the kettle and do the prep wash. Do it now.


THE COOKING BIT
Sweat the onions and garlic in the vegetable oil over a medium heat. Leave the lid on the Quite Big Saucepan and they'll sweat faster in their own little sauna.

Boil the kettle. Make a cuppa at the same time, you deserve one.

Once sufficiently sweaty, (the onions, not you) add the chopped sweet potatoes, chili and grated carrot and stir that business around pretty quickly. You want everything to mingle, like vegetable speed dating.

Crumble the stock cube over your veggie mix, add the cumin, the dried chili flakes, black pepper and the boiled water. Stir until everything looks well mixed.

Pop the lid on, bring it to the boil and drink your tea. Let it boil hard for 3 minutes, then reduce to a simmer. Wait for about 5 minutes. Check your emails.

After 5 minutes, stir in the red lentils and replace the lid. Allow the mix to simmer for another 15 minutes, or until the lentils are cooked through - you can test them by squeezing one between your fingernails (scrub under them first!)

When the lentils and sweet potatoes are cooked through, remove from the heat and allow the mixture to cool. Allow extra cooling time if you're using a 'jug' style blender as I've seen them crack with hot liquids going in them! No-one wants a cracked jug.

It's cool! Hurrah! Take your blender of choice and blend until it's reasonably smooth. It's a fairly grainy soup thanks to the lentils so it won't go creamy but you'll get a good, hearty texture.

Ta-dah - you've got yourself some tasty homemade soup! Warm it back up, cover it in black pepper and more chili flakes if you like it super spicy and scoff with abandon.