This soup is a real winner: filling, hearty, delicious, and the addition of these crunchy haystack sweet potato fries takes this great soup to the next level. It's incredibly healthy too - packing vitamins A, C, K, folate, calcium, iron, potassium, and of course... protein. Perfect fodder for this freezing weather, when the only thing that can warm your bones is a piping hot bowl of nutritious soup.
Vegan Broccoli & Lentil Soup with Crunchy Haystack Fries
Ingredients (serves 6):
2 Tbsp olive oil, plus 1 Tbsp for the haystack fries
1 white onion, diced
1 large leek, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 sticks celery, chopped
1 courgette, chopped
1 large head of broccoli, broken into spears
1 400g can green lentils
1-2 Litres of vegan stock
Handful fresh parsley, finely chopped
1 sweet potato
Salt & pepper to taste
Method:
Start by making your sweet potato haystack fries. Preheat the oven to 200C (390F), then wash your sweet potato but don't peel. Spin it through a spiralizer, then toss with 1 Tbsp of the oil and a pinch of salt and pepper. Spread on a baking tray so as much air as possible can flow between them, and place in the oven for 25-30 minutes. Remove and toss them around halfway through cooking. When they are browned, turn the oven off and leave them in there while it cools down to finish drying them out for extra crunch.
Meanwhile, to make the soup, heat the remaining 2 Tbsp olive oil in a large pan, and fry the onion for 5 minutes. Then add the leek (tip - cut in half lengthways, then chop up both halves before washing in a colander, to ensure you wash any grit out from within the layers). Add the garlic, celery, and courgette, and continue to fry for 10 minutes. Then add the broccoli and lentils, and top up with stock to a consistency that you like (I like my soups quite thick so only added 1 litre). Simmer for 10 minutes until the broccoli is tender, then remove from the heat and blitz with a handheld stick blender until all large chunks are gone but some leaving some texture. Or if you like your soups really smooth you can put in a blender. Top with the haystack fries and serve steaming hot.
Nutrition (per serving with 2 slices wholemeal bread):
Protein: 13.6g (Women: 27.2% / Men: 24.7%)
Iron: 4.0mg (Women: 27.0% / Men: 35.4%)
Calories: 318 (Women: 15.9% / Men: 12.7%)
Sugars: 7.8g (Women: 8.7% / Men: 6.5%)
Total Fats: 8.4g (Women: 12.0% / Men: 8.8%)
Saturated Fat: 1.2g (Women: 6.0% / Men: 4.0%)
Salt: 1.3g (Women: 21.7% / Men: 21.7%)
Fibre: 9.8g (Women: 32.7% / Men: 32.7%)
See the Nutrition Info page for more details on % of Dietary Reference Values for men and women.