Aimee Ryan's Mulligatawny

Ingredients 

• 2 tbsp vegetable oil
• 1 red onion, diced
• 1 red (bell) pepper, deseeded and diced
• 2 medium carrots, peeled and diced
• 1 medium sweet potato, peeled and diced
• 3 garlic cloves, crushed
• 1 red chilli, finely chopped
• a thumb-sized piece of ginger, peeled and finely chopped
• ½ tsp ground cumin
• 2 tbsp medium curry powder
• 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
• 1 medium red apple, peeled and grated
• 1 x 400g/14oz can of chickpeas, drained and rinsed
• 100g/3½oz/heaped ½ cup dried red lentils
• 2 tbsp tomato purée (paste)
• 1.5 litres/52fl oz (6½ cups)
• vegetable stock
• 190g/6¾oz (heaped 1 cup) basmati rice
• sea salt and ground black pepper
• coriander (cilantro) leaves, to serve

Method

1. Heat the oil in a large saucepan and add the onion, pepper, carrots, sweet potato, garlic, chill and ginger.
2. Cook over a medium heat for about 10 minutes, until the vegetables begin to soften.
3. Stir in the cumin, curry powder, balsamic vinegar and apple and cook for a further 2 minutes.
4. Add the chickpeas, lentils, tomato purée and vegetable stock. Bring to the boil, then simmer for 20 minutes.
5. Meanwhile, fill another saucepan with water and cook the rice for 10 minutes, or until tender. Drain and rinse under cold water.
6. Once the soup has had it’s time and the vegetables are tender, you can leave the soup chunky or blend until smooth. I sometimes like to blend half so it’s somewhere in-between. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve with a portion of the cooked rice and topped with some fresh coriander leaves and more black pepper.

Serves 4-6 / Approximate cost* per portion: 70p

Recipe taken from Great British Vegan by Aimee Ryan, White Lion Publishing.

*Approximate cost based on 6 portions and calculated using average prices from three main supermarket retailers in the UK. Price data accurate as of December 2021.