Name: Red Lentil and Lemon Soup
Yield: Serves 4
Cuisine: British
Ingredients: salt and freshly ground black pepper; ¼ tsp grated nutmeg; 2 tbsp olive oil; 2 garlic cloves, grated; 1 large white Spanish onion, chopped; 1 large carrot, peeled and chopped; 1 tsp barberries; ½ tbsp cumin seeds, toasted and ground; 1½ tbsp tomato purée; 1 l vegetable stock; 1 pinch cayenne pepper; zest and juice of 1 unwaxed lemon (blackened if you like); 200 g red lentils, rinsed thoroughly

Preparation info

Serves
4

Difficulty
Easy

Appears in

Café Cooking

By Gillian Veal

Published 2024

About

This is a classic soup from the Middle East, strangely reassuring and reviving. I’ve started adding barberries to it, which give an exotic, tangy flavour. If you have time, try blackening the lemon – this sweetens the flavour and increases the amount of juice you get out of it. Simply cut the lemon in half and blacken the cut side in a hot frying pan.