Method

This recipe has been very kindly submitted to us by Shaun Kelly for us to share with you on our website. We hope you enjoy it but please do note that we are not able to try and test every recipe sent to us so all feedback is very much appreciated.

Take a large, heavy bottomed pan – Gently cook your onions, celery and carrots in the oil, add the cumin, coriander, bay leaf and caraway seeds after the veg has been cooking for about 10 minutes and stir for a further 5 minutes to cook out the spices and infuse the vegetables.

Add the lentils and continue stirring over the heat to get the lentils cooking. After about 5 minutes add the salt, pepper and stock to the pan and bring to the boil. Turn down the heat and simmer gently for 40 – 50 minutes (keep an eye on it throughout the cooking process and add extra hot water if it seems to be too thick, stirring regularly until the lentils have cooked).

Check the seasoning and add some more salt if necessary – then take out the bay leaves and blitz the soup with a handblender (try not to over blend – should be smooth with some of the chunky carrots given a stay of execution)

Serve in deep bowls with a good sprinkling of Zahtar seasoning over the top of the hot soup. Eat with crusty bread.