Posted by kathryn in All In A Day's Work, Vegan, Soups and Legumes

I’ve had a rather strange time the last two days. It’s cold, wet and windy in Sydney, but I’ve been working on Christmas recipes for one of the magazines I write for. So while I’m planning and testing recipes using asparagus, mango, strawberries and other lovely summer foods, I’m also rugged up at home with the heaters on. The summer ingredients are beautiful, but all I want is soup.

I’ve finished the batch of lentil soup I made the other week and rather than repeat that, I decided to make a slightly different recipe and add some barley.

Barley is great in soups, to bulk up the contents and add some extra nutritional value. It’s very much a winter food, easy to use and a little goes a long way. I often add a few handfuls to soups and stews. Adding some barley improves the protein value of the soup. It also contains soluble fibre, which is linked to lowering cholesterol levels, particularly LDL cholesterol. Barley has low levels of a number of minerals including magnesium, phosphorous, potassium and zinc.

Lentil & Barley Soup

Serves 6

This soup is made in a similar way to a dal, in that you cook the lentils and then add a tarka of popped spices at the end. The list of ingredients is quite long, but it’s another recipe you can make while doing other things – for most of the time it just needs an occasional stir. It also freezes well.

• 1 large onion, finely sliced
• 1 carrot, finely diced
• 2 sticks celery, finely diced
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed and chopped
• 1cm fresh ginger, finely sliced
• 1 small bird’s eye chilli
• 1 bay leaf
• 1/4 teaspoon turmeric
• 200g brown lentils (1 heaped cup)
• 120g barley
• 1 tin tomatoes
• 1/2 teaspoon mustard seeds
• 1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds
• 1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
• fresh parsley and lime wedges to serve

Pour a couple of glugs of olive oil into a large saucepan and put over a medium heat. Add the onions, carrots, celery, garlic, ginger and chilli, plus a small pinch of salt and stir to combine. Turn the heat down low and put the lid on the pan. Leave to sweat, stirring occasionally for 5 – 7 minutes.

Add the bay leaf, turmeric, lentils and barley, stir and allow to cook for another 2 – 3 minutes. Add in the tomatoes and 2 litres of water. Bring to the boil, turn the heat down low, partially cover and leave to gently simmer for about 45 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Heat about 2 tablespoons of oil in a small saucepan. When hot put in the mustard seeds, about 2 seconds later add the cumin seeds and the coriander after another 5 seconds – let it pop and fizz for about 10 seconds, then add to the soup. Stir the soup to mix and leave for about 5 minutes before serving, to let all the flavours combine. Check the seasoning at this stage.

Serve with fresh parsley sprinkled over the top and some wedges of lime to squeeze into the soup.

20 July, 2006