Thai red lentil and carrot soup

I'm still being inspired by the delicious Thai ingredients I tried on my holiday last month. I wanted to make a healthy soup with a nice Thai flavour and I'm very happy with this recipe.

1 tblsp coconut oil

3/4 cup shallots, chopped

2 sticks of celery, chopped

4 carrots, peeled and chopped

2 cloves garlic, chopped
1-2 red chillies, chopped
1 lemon grass stalk, crushed slightly
3 kaffir lime leaves
1 tsp finely grated galangal
roots and stalks from 1 small bunch coriander, chopped
3/4 cup red lentils, rinsed
1 Massel chicken style stock cube
1 tsp tumeric powder
1 tin of reduced fat coconut milk

Heat the coconut oil in a large saucepan over a medium low heat. Saute the shallots for 1 minute, add the celery and carrots and saute for 3 minutes. Add the chillies, garlic, coriander, tumeric and lentils. Stir together. Add the crumbled stock cube and enough water to just cover everything. Add the galangal and  lemon grass and simmer until the lentils are cooked and all vegetables are tender. Remove the lemon grass and the lime leaves. Puree the soup once slightly cooled and add coconut milk until desired consistency is reached . Season with salt and pepper to taste and garnish with coriander leaves.

Spicy, creamy chickpea soup

Autumn has arrived in Australia though it is still pretty warm over here in Perth. Still, what better way to welcome the new season than with a hearty bowl of autumn coloured soup. This recipe is seriously easy and delicious, not to mention healthy and vegan! I was inspired by the chickpea and greens curry soup in the March issue of Vegetarian Times magazine, but of course I had to put my own spin on it :) It also gets the tick of approval from my meat loving bf which is high praise indeed!

You could leave it chunky as I did, or blend up half and stir back in for a thicker soup.

Here is my version:

1 Tbsp grapeseed oil
1 tsp curry powder
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground tumeric
1/2 tsp cayenne powder
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1 large brown onion, finely chopped
1 shallot, finely chopped
1 stick of celery, finely diced
2 cloves garlic, crushed
2 cups fresh spinach leaves, roughly chopped
1-2 ripe tomatoes, roughly chopped
1 can of chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1 cup of light coconut milk
4 cups vegetable stock (or 4 cups of hot water and 1 stock cube)
chopped parsley or coriander and Greek yoghurt (optional) to serve

Heat oil in saucepan over medium heat. Fry the onion, celery and shallot for 5 mins, then add all of the spices and cook for a further 2 mins. Add the garlic, tomato and spinach and stir through. Add the chickpeas, vegetable stock and coconut milk. Reduce heat to low and simmer for an hour. Add salt to taste and serve with a small dollop of yoghurt if desired and a sprinkling of parsley or coriander leaves.