luscious lentil soup

serves 6

What You Need

400g of dried lentils
4 carrots, chopped coarsely
6 sticks of celery, chopped coarsely
150g of small potatoes, halved lengthwise
2–3 leeks, chopped in ringlets – just the white parts
1 Spanish onion, chopped
2 parsnips, chopped coarsely
3–4 chopped tomatoes or a small tin of tomatoes
1 tablespoon of unsulfured black molasses
1 liter or more of stock or 3 tablespoons of low salt vegetable bouillon powder plus water
1 tablespoon of fresh sage, chopped fine
1/2 tablespoon of fresh thyme, chopped fine
6 cloves of garlic, crushed
The juice of 1 lemon
Freshly ground black pepper
3 tablespoons of broad-leaved parsley, chopped

Here’s How

Wash the lentils, place in a large pot and cover them with 2 or 3 inches of stock or water. Bring them to the boil, add the remaining ingredients except the fresh parsley and lemon juice (including the vegetable bouillon powder if you’ve not used a stock as a base) and simmer for 45 minutes. I sometimes remove it from the heat and let it sit for half an hour, then reheat it just before serving, adding the lemon juice and garnishing with the parsley.

This is not really a soup at all. It’s a rich and satisfying main course – a great comfort so nice to indulge in, especially in midwinter after you’ve been for a long walk in the mountains and you arrive home weary and longing for something to warm your heart and fill your stomach.

The heroic virtues of beans – from adzuki and black-eyed peas to chickpeas, kidney beans, fava, lentils, soy, navy beans and split peas – has been much touted in recent years in relation to what they can do for health. This may be why our consumption of beans and legumes has increased almost 50% in the last ten years.

A number of studies show that pulses help prevent cancer and heart disease. They also help stabilize blood-sugar levels and even counter obesity. These legumes are rich in both soluble and insoluble fiber – so rich that one cup of lentils contains as much fiber as 5 large potatoes – in effect half of the daily recommendation of 30g. A recent research project at Oxford University confirmed that a legume-rich diet helps control diabetes by lowering blood-sugar levels and improves the quality of blood fats. Pulses are also rich in lignans – phyto-oestrogens to help regulate oestrogen activities in the body. They too offer some protection against many kinds of cancer including breast cancer. Legumes are low in fat, low in sodium and high in protein, particularly when they are eaten together with wholegrain breads, so that you get a full complement of both essential and nonessential amino acids from which your body can build new protein.

For the vegetarian beans and legumes are musts. The problem is that many people find pulses difficult to digest. They are known for their ability to produce flatulence and they make some people feel heavy – all of which goes to show that no matter how good something is for you, too much is not so good. I like to use legumes either in whole meal soups and stews or to take them and make filling yet low-fat dips by mixing them with a little olive oil, some fresh herbs and seasoning.