Winter warmers

Winter is officially here! This week, food writer Libby Kimber brings you two soup recipes that will warm you from the inside out.

Red lentil, pumpkin and lime pickle soup

Serves: 4 | Prep: 20 mins | Cook: 4 hrs

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups (305g) split red lentils
• 6 cups (1.5L) salt-reduced vegetable stock
• 2 Tbsp Indian lime pickle, chopped
• 500g pumpkin, peeled, seeded and cut into cubes
• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 red onion, finely chopped
• 1 tsp cumin seeds
• 1 large tomato, finely chopped
• Handful mint leaves
• Handful dill sprigs

Method

1. Heat your slow cooker to high.
2. Combine the lentils, stock and lime pickle in the bowl of the slow cooker. Cover and cook for 2 hours.
3. Working quickly to avoid losing too much heat, stir through the pumpkin and season generously with salt. Cover and cook for a further 2 hours, until both the lentils and pumpkin are soft. Turn the slow cooker down to low and keep covered.
4. Heat the olive oil in a small saucepan over high heat. Add the onion and cook for 8–10 minutes, until golden. Stir in the cumin seeds and cook for 1 minute, until the cumin pops and sizzles. Tip the spicy onions into the soup and stir through, along with the chopped tomato. Add pepper to taste, and a little more salt, if needed.
5. Serve the soup in small bowls, garnished with the herbs.

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Creamy broccoli, chicken and wild rice soup

Serves: 6

Ingredients

• 4 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 1 red onion, peeled and sliced
• 3 garlic cloves, crushed
• 2 heads of broccoli, cut into florets and stalks diced
• 2 sprigs of thyme
• 1/4 cup cashews
• 2L salt-reduced chicken stock
• 1 cup wild rice
• 3 chicken thighs, sliced
• 1 cup almonds
• Juice of one lemon
• 1 tsp smoked paprika
• Salt and pepper, to taste

Method

1. In a large heavy based saucepan, sauté onion in 3 tablespoons of oil on medium heat until translucent. Add garlic and sauté for a minute until fragrant.
2. Add broccoli, thyme, cashews and stock and place lid on saucepan. Simmer on medium heat for 15 minutes until broccoli is tender. Turn off heat. Remove thyme sprigs.
3. Using a stick blender, blend the soup until smooth. You can also use a normal blender; use a ladle to transfer from the soup pot to the jug to blend.
4. Once the soup is smooth, add wild rice and chicken. Simmer for 45 minutes until rice is tender.
5. While the soup is simmering, preheat oven to 180 degrees. Add almonds, 1 tablespoon of oil, lemon juice and paprika to a baking tray and combine. The easiest way to do this is to ‘shuffle’ the almonds by quickly moving the tray side to side to coat them.
6. Roast almonds for 10 minutes. Set aside to cool.
7. Season soup with salt and pepper to your taste, then serve soup with a handful of roasted almonds on top and some additional thyme, if desired. You can also add a squeeze of grilled lemon over the soup for a citrus twist.

Recipe created by Melanie Lionello for Nuts for Life | nutsforlife.com.au

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