Monday 19 August 2013

Anjas's Bean, Lentil and Spinach Soup

Rocket & Roses HQ Play List:

Billie Holiday ~ They Can't Take That Away From Me
Brandi Carlile ~ Josephine
Kenny Wayne Shepherd ~ Never Lookin' Back
Portishead ~ Glory Box
Dido ~ Us 2 Little Gods
ABBA ~ Voulez Vous
Joan Jett ~ Everyone Knows
Beth Hart ~ Love Suffers All
VAST ~ Winter In My Heart
Metallica ~ My Friend of Misery
Blondie ~ Call Me
Lady Antebellum ~ Things People Say
Def Leppard ~ When Love & Hate Collide
Kid Rock ~ So Hott (not a typo lol)

I love soup...which is good because that is my main meal of the day for a while. And I do believe once you've made your own soup at home...canned or packet soups are just...well...awful. Too salty, to laden with cream (hated those kinds even before I became vegan..yuck), too processed or the worst...look like vomit. *shudder* I really am not a fan at all and my conversion to eating soup only came after trying a home made soup after ML and I met. Now I have a whole file of soup recipes and that doesn't include the cookbooks I have. When asked if you can ever have too many soup recipes...after I have slapped them with a stick of celery...I look shocked at the very thought and say...Hell no!

So when planning out the first few weeks of this plan I wanted to make sure that I was eating varied ingredients to ensure maximum nutrients, vitamins and to stop it getting boring. I decided to try out new recipes....and this is the second of them. However, having a large, stuffed file of these recipes often means I have no idea when and where I found them...and this is the case with this recipe. I only know the creator is called Anja. I send thanks out there...to whoever Anja is. lol.  

Now this maybe isn't the best looking soup ever created but what it lacks in visual appeal, it makes up for in the aroma whilst it's bubbling away and the taste when you take that... "Oh! Too hot, toooo hot!" first mouthful. lol.  I am a huge fan of kidney beans so was really stoked to eat them in this soup. It was filling but not too heavy and spicy but not spice overload. 

The only change I would make to this recipe was one of pure personal preference and that would be to chop down the spinach even further than the recipe instructed...but that is just me and my loathing of cooked stringy spinach. But it didn't stop me loving this soup....

Anja's Bean, Lentil & Spinach Soup
 
Anja's Bean, Lentil and Spinach Soup  Serves 4
(Recipe by Anja)

1 tbsp olive oil
1 red onion, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, crushed

1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground turmeric
1 tsp ground paprika
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1 1/2 cups of cooked red kidney beans
1/2 cup of red lentils
4 cups of veggie stock or water

Juice of 1 lemon
1 tsp dried mint

2 cups of fresh spinach, chopped (or finely chopped)

Heat the oil in a soup pan and then add the onion and cook until softened. Add the garlic and cook for one more minute. Add the spices and cook until warmed through and fragrant. Stir in the beans, lentils and mints then add the stock or water. Stir well and then cover and simmer for 20 minutes, until the lentils are tender. Stir occasionally. Stir in the spinach and simmer uncovered for 5 minutes. Serve...

Enjoy!

Thanks for stopping by and I hope your week gets off to a great start...

~Red~