Seasonal local food recipe No.300 – Nigel’s dhal and pumpkin soup
This recipe is from Nigel Slater’s Kitchen Diaries. He boils his pumpkin flesh for 10 minutes but I am going to try roasting it instead which means I don’t have to peel it first.
Serves 4
Preparation time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 30-40 minutes
Ingredients
1 small onion, roughly chopped
2 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed
A walnut-sized knob of ginger, peeled and cut into thin shreds
225 g split red lentils
1 1/2 litres water
1 tsp ground turmeric
1 tsp ground chilli
250 g pumpkin flesh, roasted or boiled
A small bunch of coriander, roughly chopped
For the onion topping:
2 onions, peeled and cut into thin rings
2 Tbsp groundnut oil
2 small, hot chillies, deseeded and thinly sliced
2 cloves garlic, peeled and finely sliced
Method
Put the onion, garlic, ginger, lentils and water into a large, heavy-based saucepan, bring to the boil and then turn the heat down to an enthusiastic simmer. Stir in the ground turmeric and chilli, season and leave to simmer, covered, for twenty minutes.
To make the onion topping, cook the sliced onions in the oil in a shallow pan until they start to colour. Add the garlic and chilli and continue cooking until the onions are a deep golden colour. Set aside.
Once the lentils have been cooking for 20 minutes, uncover and turn up the heat, boiling hard for five minutes.
Remove the pan from the heat and add the cooked pumpkin flesh. Blend the soup until smooth, reheat then add the coriander. Serve in bowls with a spoonful of the spiced onions on top.
