Credit: David Loftus
Strong Women
Make this Mildreds red lentil harira soup the next time you need an immune system boost
2 years ago
2 min read
There’s nothing like a warming, spice-loaded soup when you feel run down – and this recipe from Mildreds’ new book, Easy Vegan, is about as restorative as food gets.
You don’t have to be sick in order to benefit from a little immune system support. In fact, what you eat in the long term can even impact your immune age – and the last thing you want is for that system to age faster than the rest of you.
With that in mind, this recipe from Mildreds is one you’ll want to bookmark for weeks when you just need a little pick-me-up. As well as ras el hanout (a North African spice mix made from spices such as cardamom, allspice, mace, nutmeg, paprika and fenugreek), this stew-like soup also contains turmeric (a powerful anti-inflammatory), cumin (high in energy-boosting iron) and ginger (an antimicrobial).
Then you’ve got carrots (rich in vitamin A), lentils (packed with fibre) and harissa paste. Again, this tends to be used for flavour but it’s also teaming with health benefits thanks primarily to its capsaicin content – found to improve heart health, blood pressure and immunity.
Ingredients
4-5 tbsp olive oil
2 onions, finely diced
2cm piece of fresh root ginger, finely chopped
1 tbsp ras el hanout spice mix
½ tsp ground turmeric
1 tsp cumin seeds
2 bay leaves
2 carrots, peeled and finely diced
Handful of flat-leaf parsley, stalks finely chopped, leaves roughly chopped
100g red lentils, rinsed well and drained
1.5 litres vegetable stock
2 tbsp tomato purée
400g tomato passata
1-2 tbsp harissa paste (rose harissa works well)
1 tsp caster sugar
100g vermicelli pasta pieces or 150g cooked rice
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
To serve
Coconut yoghurt
Lemon wedges (optional)
Method
1. Heat the oil in a large, heavy-based saucepan over a medium heat. Add the onions and cook for 2 minutes until translucent and golden, then reduce the heat to low and add the ginger, spices and bay leaves.
2. Cook gently for a few seconds until fragrant. Next, add the carrots, celery and parsley stalks, and cook for another 5 minutes until the carrots are starting to lose their bite.
3. Add the red lentils and cook for 5 minutes, then add the stock, tomato purée, passata, harissa and sugar. Bring to a simmer, then cook gently, stirring often, for 20 –30 minutes until the lentils are cooked.
4. Add the vermicelli pasta or rice and cook for a further 5–10 minutes until the pasta is cooked. Season the soup with salt and pepper.
5. Serve topped with the parsley leaves and dollops of coconut yogurt, with extra harissa on top and lemon wedges on the side for squeezing, if you like.
Recipe: Mildreds; image: David Loftus
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