In which our hero proves you don't need dairy to make a creamy Lentil and Apricot soup!

Howdy folks,

So yeah, as the title says, tell anyone you're a soup lover who also eats Dairy (and gluten for that matter) free, and you'll probably hear a lot about how that isn't compatible.

Well today I'm going to prove very much the opposite,  wanna learn how to make this?  Find out how after the jump!



So you'll find like, a *ton* of ways of making this online.  This is my own that's adapted from 2 or 3 of them.  The following quantities are good for about 4-5 portions.

• 2 tablespoons Olive Oil
• 2 Onions chopped
• 50-60g Dried Apricots
• 250g Red Lentils
• 1-1.5 L of Gluten free Stock (DONT assume vegetable stock is GF, it often isn't)

• 3 Tomatoes - I actually use a single tin, they're one of the few things I do by tinned these days
• 1/2 tablespoon Garlic (or about half a fresh bulb) 
• 1-2 teaspoon ground Cumin
• 1-2 teaspoon dried Thyme
• 1-2 teaspoon Coriander 
• Celtic sea salt (I don't like this to be too sweet, so I use a fair amount) 
• Black pepper

Ok, step 1 dont eat all the dried apricots before you start cooking (seriously, that's happened around here, they're like catnip).

Step 2,   Cook off the onion and apricots in the oil.  The garlic too if you're using fresh.  I'd suggest slicing the apricots if you're going to keep the soup chunky,  more on that later.  You're looking for a light cook off here, so 2-3 mins on a high heat.   Whilst you're doing that, be boiling the water for your stock.

Step 3.  add the stock, and the lentils to the pan.  You want to let these simmer (stirring continually, if you've never used red lentils before they require a blowtorch to remove if they stick), for about 30 minutes give or take, essentially once the lentils are soft you're good to go.

Step 4, add the tomatoes, and everything except the salt and pepper.   Let the mixture simmer for another 10-15 mins.

Step 5, taste, and add salt and pepper as necessary. 

Step 6, Decision time!  A lot of recipies call for you to leave this fairly chunky, and blend about half the mixture in a food processor, I personally prefer to blend all of it, that gives a much smoother creamier flavour, which is what I personally am after when I make this.

So there we go!  Enjoy the soup, it's much healthier than the last recipie I did, so you can enjoy it even when you're not having a treat day! 

BANG!