Punishment Soup - vegan vegetable soup that is far from punishing!

Punishment Soup

The title of this soup is probably not very inspiring - in fact I am surprised you are still here! The name comes from the dish a work friend of mine creates with all the bits of veg that are left at the end of the week. Every week is a different dish, It's much tastier than it should be, but gets its name Punishment soup as it's cheap and healthy, but totally delicious!

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The soup uses whatever veg is to hand, so as long as you have a total of 600g peeled and trimmed veg, an onion and a couple of spuds, you won't go too far wrong. On this occasion I used half a courgette, half a parsnip, a carrot, a chunk of swede, some cauliflower and some broccoli

The soup can be left chunky, mashed down with a potato masher, as I did, or blended if you prefer a smoother soup. It freezes and keeps well in the fridge for a couple of days

Ingredients

1 large, or 2 smaller onions, peeled and chopped finely

Splash of vegetable oil for browning

600g of peeled and trimmed leftover vegetables (see above), finely diced

150g of peeled and finely diced potato

1200ml vegetable stock

85g red lentils

1/2 tsp dried mixed herbs

Generous seasoning of salt and fresh black pepper

Method

Put the onion and oil into a large pan and cook on medium, stirring occasionally for around 5 minutes until soft and just starting to turn golden

Add the rest of the prepared vegetables and continue to cook this way for another 5 minutes

Add the stock, seasoning, herbs and lentils. Mix well and cover with a lid. Reduce the heat under the pan and leave to very gently simmer for around 30 minutes, stirring occasionally

When the lentils are cooked and the vegetables are tender, your soup is ready. You can use as it is, mash it with a potato masher to leave some texture still, or blend for a smooth soup

Debbie