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
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.
Add the curry powder and cumin and fry for a further minute.
Add the lentils, almond butter, and stock and simmer for 20–25 minutes, or until the carrots are soft and the lentils are cooked.
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.
Once the carrots and lentils are cooked, using a handheld blender, blend the soup until smooth.
Roughly chop the almonds.
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.
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