One Pot Lentil + Coconut Curry Soup

This one-pot curry soup is exactly what we love to eat on a weeknight. Not only is it one-pot, but it contains ingredients we usually already have in the kitchen. We love to serve this with thick slices of toasted bread, but you can also serve it with naan or even rice if you prefer.

Notes:

• This is a really simple recipe but there are a couple of important steps to get maximum flavour. First, you’ll want to make sure you cook the garlic and ginger until they caramelise and reach a lovely golden brown colour. Just before they burn. Likewise, after you add the spices you’ll want to cook them until they begin to smoke. This way they’ll release lots of their lovely aromas.
• Some recipes will ask you to grind the whole coriander seeds because they can be quite hard. But if you cook them long enough, as per the above, they’ll begin to soften. This means they’ll break down as you chew them and their intense flavours will burst out, which we think adds a lovely feature to the dish. But you can grind them first if you prefer.
• You can bulk this out with vegetables, if you prefer. Sometimes we add carrot, sweet potato and red peppers, which we fry for a couple of minutes before the red lentils and chop small enough so they cook in the 20-25 minutes.
• Leftovers will keep well in the fridge in an airtight container for 2-3 days. Alternatively you can freeze this soup for 3-4 months.