Sounds like some good variety. How do you make the soup?
It's basically a classic vegetable soup with either cooked or raw green lentils.
You need a basic stock, i.e. either water or stock made with either
Vecon or
Marmite plus 2 or 3 fresh (if possible) bay leaves plus
a huge sprinkle of dried herbs, 2 tsp of onion powder. If you have any celery leaves add them to the stock.
Chopped vegetables including either carrots or sweet potatoes ( you can also add pumpkin), an onion or/and a small leek, a courgette and a few cauliflower florets. If I have some French beans on hand, I also add a few chopped ones.
A few plum, tinned tomatoes, 1 tbs of tomato puree.
A drizzle of evo. Salt and smoked paprika to taste.
Cook (once the stock comes up to a boil, gently simmer) all of the ingredients if using raw lentils (roughly 1 cup) until the latter are cooked. Depending on the variety this can take up to 15 - 20 mins.
If using cooked lentils, I add them about 8 mins before the vegetables are cooked.
Whizz the soup using either a hand blender or FP. Adjust seasoning.
Serve piping hot with a sprinkle of smoked paprika, a drizzle of either pumpkin seed or olive oil, a sprinkle of yeast flakes and extra pumpkin seeds. Cubes of toasted gingerbread also pair well with this hearty winter soup.
The soup freezes well for a few months. You can also use it as a binder when making veggie burger or loaf.