October 20, 2014

Recipe: Malin Nilsson’s Warming Lentil Soup

Our special guest welltodo Londoner, Instagrammer, and health food blogger, Malin Nilsson (aka @goodeatingsblog) shares a warming recipe.
Autumn has hit and all I want to eat is big bowls of warming soup, so I’ve pulled out an old classic to share! This lentil soup will warm you up, with chilli and turmeric, whilst the garlic wards off colds – making it the perfect autumn staple. It is also easy and not costly to make! Lentils are a super tasty and useful item to keep in your cupboard for soups, stews and curries. Adding to that, they are a great source of plant protein. To make the soup a bit more fun I enjoy the crunch of roasted nuts and pumpkin seeds which also adds some healthy fats and extra protein to this dish. Enjoy with some bread or, like me, seed crackers!
Warming Lentil Soup w. Roasted Nuts + Seeds
Prep 15 min
Total cooking time 35 min
Requires large pot and frying pan
Serves 4
Ingredients:
olive/coconut oil for browning the onions and roasting nuts
2 medium brown onions
2 large potatoes
2-3 garlic cloves
1 cup red split lentils
1,25 l water
2 tsp gluten-free vegetable stock
1 tsp smoked paprika
1 tsp ground turmeric
1 tsp garlic powder (plus some more for nuts)
a pinch hot chilli flakes
salt and black pepper to taste
handful of almond
3 tbsp pine nuts
3 tbsp pumpkin seeds

Instructions:
1. Chop onions as well as garlic.
2. Sautee onions in oil on a low heat whilst peeling and dicing potatoes.
3. Add garlic to the pot.
4. When the onion is see-through and garlic is fragrant add 1 l of water.
5. Add stock and spices as well as potatoes.
6. Turn to a medium heat.
7. Rinse lentils and add them to pot.
8. Let boil and then turn the heat down to a simmer for roughly 20 min.
9. Check if the water is completely absorbed, if so add the last of the water.
10. After 20 min the lentils should look ‘mushy’ and the potatoes should be soft, if so crush the potatoes with a ladle and take off the heat.
11. On low heat place a little oil in frying pan.
12. Add nuts and seeds. Sprinkle with chilli flakes, salt and pepper.
13. Stir and when the pumpkin seeds pop you are ready to serve.
Serve sprinkled with pepper, chilli flakes or what you prefer and top with nuts and seeds!
Malin Nilsson is a London-based vegan and gluten-free food blogger. Hailing from Sweden, Malin’s beautiful food and photography is capturing the hearts of London’s plant-based food-loving community. Malin has a degree in theatre studies from Stockholm University and adopted a plant-based, vegan diet to help heal her digestive tract and for ethical reasons. She shares her recipes and journey at www.goodeatings.com