Spiced carrot & lentil soup

Spiced carrot & lentil soup

A delicious, spicy blend, packed full of iron and low fat to boot. It's ready in under half an hour or can be made in a slow cooker

Difficulty and servings

Easy

Serves 4

Preparation and cooking times

Preparation time

Prep 10 mins

Cook time

Cook 15 mins

Vegetarian Freezable

Vegetarian, Dairy-free

To make dairy-free, see 'Try' below

Method

  1. Heat a large saucepan and dry-fry the cumin seeds and chilli flakes for 1 min, or until they start to jump around the pan and release their aromas. Scoop out about half of the seeds with a spoon and set aside. Add the oil, carrot, lentils, stock and milk to the pan and bring to the boil. Simmer for 15 mins until the lentils have swollen and softened.
  2. Whizz the soup with a stick blender or in a food processor until smooth (or leave it chunky if you prefer). Season to taste and finish with a dollop of yogurt and a sprinkling of the reserved toasted spices. Serve with warmed naan breads.
Try

Make it Moroccan

Substitute the chilli flakes and cumin seeds for a few teaspoons of harissa paste. You could add cooked shredded chicken at the end of cooking, too.

IF YOU WANT TO USE A SLOW COOKER...

Place half the cumin seeds, half the chilli flakes, the oil, carrots, lentils and 700ml stock into your slow cooker pot. Cover and cook on High for 3 hours until the lentils are tender. Dry-fry the remaining cumin seeds and chilli flakes just until fragrant. When the lentils are done, stir in the milk and whizz up the soup depending on how chunky you'd like it.

Make it dairy-free

For a richer but dairy-free alternative, use a can of reduced-fat coconut milk instead of the milk.

238 kcalories, protein 11g, carbohydrate 34g, fat 7 g, saturated fat 1g, fibre 5g, salt 0.25 g

Recipe from Good Food magazine, October 2005.

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Latest comments and suggestions

Results 281-300

  • Binder photo Cath Brobin

    05 November 2010

    Cath Brobin commented on this recipe

    Great quick, easy and nutritious soup, which if you leave thick, can be turned into a base for a chicken dansak curry. Delicious!

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  • Binder photo nikk

    06 November 2010

    nikk rated this recipe

    5 stars

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  • Binder photo Sheila M

    07 November 2010

    Sheila M commented on this recipe

    I've made this soup LOADS of times now - it's delicious, especially when made with low fat coconut milk instead of ordinary milk. I dry fry the cumin seeds/chilli flakes - absolutely no need for oil, so better for the diet. I often make with half carrots/half parsnips - lovely! - and using the grater on my food processor it's less than 5 mins preparation time from start to finish. Garlic Nan bread finishes it off perfectly. My all time favourite home made soup.

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  • Binder photo goth_79

    07 November 2010

    goth_79 rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    the idea of grating so many carrots with my rubbish grater and in a hurry was somewhat off-putting, so I chopped them instead and seemed to work perfectly fine...

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  • Binder photo r.wilson6637

    11 November 2010

    r.wilson6637 rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    Amazingly tasty! I use coconut milk instead of milk and also added a white onion and loads of black pepper. Easy, cheap and yummy.

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  • Binder photo Judith Starbright

    11 November 2010

    Judith Starbright rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    We make this pretty much every week! My lady doesn't like cumin, however, so we've ended up changing things. At the moment it's a tsp each of cardamom pods, crushed chilli, black peppercorns, coriander seeds and mustard seeds. Gives it kick!

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  • Binder photo kimann88

    12 November 2010

    kimann88 rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    Absolutely delicious, very filling and very simple to make. I substituted the cumin seeds for a tsp on ground cumin, omitted the yogurt and oil and chili - It was still wonderful!

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  • Binder photo Natalieanthony

    16 November 2010

    Natalieanthony rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    This soup is so easy to make with a great collection of flavours!

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  • Binder photo Robyn

    17 November 2010

    Robyn rated and commented on this recipe

    3 stars

    Quite dissapointed actually. Was easy to make but i found it quite bland and strange textured.. i think grating the carrots stops it from processing easily. To be fair i hate soup anyway and my husband said it was nice and we will be trying again tonight for a function on saturday but this time we will add an onion/celery a potato and some garlic too. Also enough for 4?? more like enough for 8!! Husband and I had a bowl each and it has also lasted 6 lunchtimes! Be careful not to burn the cumin.

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  • Binder photo jan foweraker

    20 November 2010

    jan foweraker rated and commented on this recipe

    3 stars

    Loved this recipe. Great way for using up glut of carrots. I added harissa as well as other spices and also added another half litre of stock.

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  • Binder photo Lou

    21 November 2010

    Lou rated and commented on this recipe

    4 stars

    Lovely soup, really easy and quick to make and freezes well:)

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  • Binder photo Jl

    21 November 2010

    Jl rated and commented on this recipe

    4 stars

    very easy to make, i replaced the lentils by chickpea and added a little bit of cubes of ham. served with coriander on top and fresh baked bread Easy White bread (Recipe also avail. on this site:) )

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  • Binder photo Peas Pudding Man

    24 November 2010

    Peas Pudding Man rated and commented on this recipe

    4 stars

    Didn't have any cummin seeds or chilli flakes on hand so substitued them with 1/4 tsb each of hot chilli powder and ground cummin. Makes a really tasty soup with a little spice kick - just right for a cold winters day.

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  • Binder photo chocolate buffaloec

    25 November 2010

    chocolate buffaloec commented on this recipe

    Absolutely fantastic. I am a novice cook and this was great, tasting far and above what was expected.

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  • Binder photo yum123

    26 November 2010

    yum123 rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    Quick and easy! I only had skimmed milk, also used some garlic and onion. You definitely need a lot more chilli then a pinch, i used a heaped tsp of lazy chilli aswell and plenty of salt otherwise it would have been a bit bland. Didn't blend it either and it was still spot on!

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  • Binder photo purepurple

    28 November 2010

    purepurple rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    Fantastic warming soup and ready in no time! I had no chilli flakes so I used powder instead. I served it with fresh bread. Will definately make again, the whole family enjoyed it.

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  • Binder photo Lorna

    29 November 2010

    Lorna commented on this recipe

    That works!

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  • Binder photo Lorna

    29 November 2010

    Lorna rated this recipe

    5 stars

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  • Binder photo Sarah

    29 November 2010

    Sarah commented on this recipe

    This was one of the nicest soups I've made in a long time. I didn't put in much chilli, and I whizzed it up with the hand blender, but it was really tasty. I'll definitely make it again.

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  • Binder photo Brynhildr

    01 December 2010

    Brynhildr rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    delicious! I have to make it with coconut milk and soya yoghurt as I can't eat dairy, but it tastes great anyway :)

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Difficulty and servings

Easy

Serves 4

Preparation and cooking times

Preparation time

Prep 10 mins

Cook time

Cook 15 mins

Vegetarian Freezable

Vegetarian, Dairy-free

To make dairy-free, see 'Try' below

Healthy vegetarian supper

Ingredients

  • 2 tsp cumin seeds
  • pinch chilli flakes
  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • 600g carrots , washed and coarsely grated (no need to peel)
  • 140g split red lentils
  • 1l hot vegetable stock (from a cube is fine)
  • 125ml milk
  • plain yogurt and naan bread, to serve
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238 kcalories, protein 11g, carbohydrate 34g, fat 7 g, saturated fat 1g, fibre 5g, salt 0.25 g

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