Carrot & Coriander Soup with Lentils & Lemon - recipe

We didn't have a lot in the fridge last night, but I knew I had a bunch of deliciously fragrant coriander waiting for me to find the right use for it. So after a late escape from work, I whipped up the following for dinner last night - and met with much approval and praise from Simon! (By the time I sat down to eat it my palate was completely stuffed, having tasted through the cooking process and burning my mouth at least twice. sigh.) I'm pretty confident it was damn good though. :-)


Ingredients
1 bunch fresh coriander, including stalks
1 onion
3 large carrots - peeled & grated
1 large kumara - peeled and chopped into about 8mm square chunks
water
1 lemon
Brown lentils (I was planning on using red, but only had brown in the end), about 1/2 cup I guess
Olive Oil
Salt & Pepper

Instructions

• Finely chop the coriander stems, sauté these in olive oil until fragrant, remove & set aside.
• Finely chop onion, sauté in olive oil, add the carrots & kumara, stir, add water (750ml - 1 litre).
• I waited for it to start simmering before adding the well rinsed lentils. Season with salt & pepper. About 20 minutes later, add half of the coriander leaves.
• About 5 minutes before the lentils are cooked (which takes about 45 minutes - but I taste test rather than timing it), add the cooked coriander stems & juice of half the lemon.
• Check the lentils are cooked & serve. Top with the remainder of the coriander leaves and a slice of lemon. We had it with bread, but it wasn't really needed. Quite hearty enough with all those lentils!

Credits: for inspiration - I read this about a week ago, but didn't refer back to it until now!