Chunky Vegetable & Spicy Tomato Soup with Quinoa

Lately I have been so cold, seriously the weather has turned here in England. So I've been batch cooking all kinds of soup. Soup to me is the ultimate comfort food in the cold winter months, you bundle in from the cold and warm yourself up by devouring a hot bowl of goodness. I really enjoy tomato based soups and have frequently been making Ottelenghi's curried red lentil, tomato and coconut soup.

My recipe contains carrots, courgette, sweet potato and kale but you could use any veg you have to hand really.  The key with this one is to chop it all quite small and try and get all the vegetables of a similar size, so they cook at the same time. It's ready in just over thirty minutes and has to be served with warm, buttery, crusty bread. That's my only law when I make you a soup recipe, unless you can't eat gluten, then I'll let you off.

Chunky Vegetable & Spicy Tomato Soup with Quinoa

Serves: 4Prep time: 10 minsCook time: 35 mins

Ingredients

• 2 tbsp vegetable oil
• 1 litre of vegetable stock (plus extra 100ml of water to loosen if necessary)
• 1 tin (400g) chopped tomatoes
• 1 tbsp curry powder
• Quarter tsp chilli flakes
• 100g quinoa
• 2 small courgette (or 1 medium sized), chopped
• 2 medium sized carrots, chopped
• 1 small sweet potato, chopped
• 1 brown onion, chopped
• Large handful of curly kale, gently torn into small pieces

Directions

1. Chop all vegetables to a similar, small size. Prep your stock.
2. Add oil to a warm pan and once hot, add vegetables, saute for around 8 mins. Add spices and stir together.
3. Add quinoa and stir for 2 mins, then add stock and tomatoes. Bring to a boil and then turn down to a simmer for 25 mins. With a few minutes to go, stir in your kale.
4. Serve hot or store in air tight containers in the fridge for up to 3 days.