Carrot and coriander soup

1 large leek, trimmed, washed and roughly chopped (or more onion if you don't have leek)

1 medium onion, peeled and roughly chopped

750g carrots, peeled and roughly chopped

1 tsp Pataks madras curry paste

1 heaped tsp ground coriander

olive oil

1.2 l vegetable stock

1 bay leaf

salt and pepper

1. In a pressure cooker, saute the onion and leek in a glug of olive oil until it is softened and just starting to brown.
2. Stir in the curry paste and coriander. You can also add freshly grated ginger (but I didn't have any).
3. Throw in the carrots, give it all a good stir, then pour over the stock.
4. Put in the bayleaf, season with salt and pepper (be careful if you're using salted stock).
5. Bring up to pressure and cook for about 8 minutes once at full pressure. If you don't have a pressure cooker, cook in a large pan for as long as it takes to soften the carrots completely.
6. Leave to come down from pressure, then puree the soup (use a hand blender or failing that smoosh it with a masher).
7. Check the seasoning and serve with some chopped fresh coriander sprinkled on the top, and maybe a swirl of single cream if you're so inclined.

Ethiopian Red Lentil Curry (Misir Wot)

See my post on Mumrousse Ethiopian Red Lentil Curry This is a delicious way of cooking that veggie stand-by, red lentils - I think it's even nicer than Dhal.

Peanut, sweet potato and tofu stew

A recipe for a West African chicken peanut stew appeared in my news feed today. I liked the sound of the curry-like ingredients and the idea of adding peanut butter, but wanted a veggie option. I looked up some alternative recipes, substituted some firm silken tofu and chunks of sweet potato and threw in some red split lentils for good measure. Totally inauthentic, probably unrecognisable as a West African stew, it was nonetheless very tasty, and what's more, vegan.

It tasted much nicer than it looks!

 1 onion, chopped
1 big clove garlic, minced
2cm piece of fresh ginger, grated
glug of olive oil
shake each of: ground cumin, turmeric, paprika, cayenne pepper
a vegetable stock cube (I used Knorr)
About 500ml boiling water - more if it starts to stick
350g sweet potato, peeled and chopped into small chunks
small courgette, chopped into small chunks
about 12 brussels sprouts, trimmed and washed
75g red split lentils
2 heaped tbsp crunchy peanut butter
200g firm silken tofu, cubed

1. Gently saute the onion, garlic and ginger in some olive oil.
2. Add the spices and saute for a minute or two
3. Throw in the veg, the lentils, the stock cube and the water and give it all a good stir.
4. Stir in the peanut butter
5. Bring back to the boil, and cook for about 15 minutes, or until the sweet potato and brussels are cooked but not too mushy and the red lentils are cooked. Add more water if it gets a bit too dry and starts to stick. I left it a bit too long, as I mistook chunks of peanut for underdone lentils. Stir in the tofu and heat for 2 or 3 minutes more, taking care not to mush up the tofu too much.
6. Serve as is, or with rice.