Chickpea, Tomato, Red Lentil & Basil Soup

Chickpea, Tomato, Red Lentil & Basil Soup

This is a very simple soup and I usually don’t measure anything out but just adjust as I go to get the right textures and tastes.

Ingredients:

2 cloves of garlic
olive oil
one tin of tomatoes
approx 50g red lentils (or more if you like a chunky soup)
500ml vegetable stock
one tbsp of sugar
chickpeas ~ 400g - I cooked them from dry as I prefer these but you can use tins - one tin if you do
Fresh basil - about 2/3 tbsp - depends on how much you like basil really.
Chilli flakes, half teaspoon
Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Method:

Finely chop the garlic and sauté in the olive oil
Add the tin of tomatoes, thevegetable stock, the sugar, the chilli flakes and half the lentils. Bring to the boil and simmer for about 15 minutes. Puree.
Add the remaining lentils and cook for 10 minutes.
Add the chickpeas and cook for a further 5 minutes.
Season to taste
Chop or tear the basil and add to the soup. Stir.
Serve with some nice crusty bread.
Garnish with a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil and some fresh basil.

Note: This is a really flexible recipe - if you want a chunkier more rustic soup you don’t need to blend the tomatoes. In this case add all the lentils together. You could use any white beans, e.g. haricot, cannellini. You can also substitute flat leaf parsley for the basil.