Thai Spiced Lentil and Butternut Squash Soup (v)

This quick but oh-so-tasty soup is based on this recipe. I had butternut squash to use up, along with some yellow thai curry paste and only 150ml coconut milk. The results were delicious and nicely filling for a working week day dinner. We had home made garlic bread along side to bulk it out a bit more. And poor old me gets to eat the leftovers for lunch today. It’s hard life ;-)

For 4-6 portions you need

1 tbsp oil

1 onion, roughly chopped

3 cloves garlic, roughly chopped

1 inch fresh ginger grated

1 butternut squash, peeled and diced into 1cm chunks

½ cup red lentils

150ml coconut milk

1 litre vegan stock

2 tbsp thai yellow curry paste (this isn’t too spicy and uses turmeric to colour the paste yellow which also gives an earthy background note to the soup)

Sliced red chilli and chopped fresh coriander to serve

1 tbsp soya sauce

1 tbsp fresh lime juice or fish sauce if not vegan

24 hour risen garlic bread to serve

Begin by sweating the onion in the oil for 5 mins. Add the garlic, ginger, squash and curry paste and cook for a further 5 mins. Tip in the lentils then add the coconut milk and stock. Bring to the boil then reduce heat and simmer for 15 mins until the lentils are cooked.

Blitz the soup until velvety and smooth. Add the soya sauce and lime juice or fish sauce. Serve in warmed bowls topped with the fresh zingy chilli slices and chopped coriander.

24 Hour Risen Garlic Bread (v)

I love baking bread, especially now I know that leaving it to rise slowly in the fridge not only makes it a lot easier to control and ensure it works, but it also tastes divine. The recipe below was supposed to make two meals worth of bread but, er, we ate most of it in one go because it was so tasty.

For 2 garlic breads that will feed 3-4 each you need

500g plain flour

7g dried yeast

½ tbsp. sugar

½ tsp salt

2 tbsp olive oil

300ml water

3-4 cloves garlic, crushed

2-3 tbsp olive oil

Simply place everything in a bowl and mix till it forms dough (I use my kenwood). Tip into an oiled bowl, cover with oiled clingfilm and leave to slowly rise in the fridge for 24 hours. Gently shape into ovals and top with olive oil and crushed garlic. Bake in a hot oven for 20 mins and then scoff. Feel utterly smug you have home made bread on a weekday work night.