Soup for a 9 degree day

It's freezing today! That has led me to crave some good old hearty warm soup to keep me going.

Here is the recipe, which can be adapted to vegetarian (choose veg stock & omit chicken).

"Warm me up" Lentil soup - Serves 4-5

4 litres filtered water
250g mixed lentils, soaked for 1 hour in water. Discard water.
4 Massel stock cubes (Veg/Chicken)
1 onion, sliced
1 medium leek, sliced
1 cup button mushrooms, sliced
3 fresh corn, chopped into 3 pieces each
4 tomatoes, chopped into cubes
3 carrots, chopped in chunks
4 potatoes, chopped in chunks
1 free range/organic chicken breast
2 tbsp tamari sauce
1 tbsp dried herbs (thyme, parsley, rosemary)
dash of pepper
4 tbsp Rice bran oil

In a medium heated pan, add 2 tbsp of rice bran oil. Add the chicken breast and cook 7 mins on each side. Put aside and allow meat to cool. Slice the chicken breast into thin shreds.

Add 2 tbsp of rice bran oil to the pan and cook the onion, leek and mushrooms till brown. In a huge pot of boiling water, add the ingredients: lentils, onion, leek, mushrooms, chicken breast, corn, stock cubes, carrots and potatoes.

Bring soup to boil for 20 mins and reduce to simmer for 10 mins. Add tamari sauce, pepper, dried herbs and tomatoes. Simmer for another 20 mins.

Enjoy! P.S. most people do not soak lentils. From my experience, I get indigestion if I do not soak lentils.