Butternut and Red Lentil Soup with Mint Yoghurt
Nothing speaks more of winter than a big bowl of butternut pumpkin soup! This one has red lentils and ginger in it too and a delicious dollop of mint yoghurt.
Ingredients
Butternut and lentil soup
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 onion diced
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 tablespoon curry powder
- 2 cm ginger finely grated
- 3 tablespoons pumpkin seeds
- 500 g butternut skin removed and cut into chunks
- 1 cup red lentils
- 1 litre water
- 2-3 tablespoons tomato paste
- 400 g crushed tomatoes one can
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 lemon juiced
- 1 teaspoon salt
To serve
- ¾ cup natural Greek yoghurt optional
- 1/3 cup mint
- 8-10 slices ciabatta bread toasted (optional)
Instructions
- Heat olive oil in a large saucepan. Add onions, cumin, curry powder, ginger and pumpkin seeds and cook until onion is soft.
- Add butternut, lentils, water, tomato paste, crushed tomatoes, bay leaves, lemon juice and salt. Cover and simmer until butternut and lentils are tender, about 30-40 minutes. Stir occasionally to help prevent lentils sticking to the bottom of the pot.
- Remove bay leaves and blend soup with a stick blender to break down butternut. You can leave the soup as thick/chunky or make it as smooth as you like.
- Mix yoghurt and mint together.
- To serve, ladle some soup into each bowl, top with a dollop of mint yoghurt and serve with 2 slices of toasted ciabatta bread on the side.
Notes
Butternut or any other kind of pumpkin can be used for this soup and you can make it as smooth or chunky as you like depending on how much you blend it. The mint yoghurt provides pleasant relief against the hot soup, and works well with most other blended soups like this one. Freeze in individual portions for healthy, warming and filling work lunches for the rest of the week.