Jilly’s spiced pumpkin & lentil soup

1 large pumpkin (seeds removed, peeled and chopped into chunks)

1 onion chopped

3 garlic cloves (sliced thinly)

Thumb sized piece of ginger thinly chopped

Can coconut milk

1 ltr of good vegetable stock

Tbsp Mild curry powder

Tbsp Bovil

Tbsp Soy sauce

Tbsp Balsamic Vinegar

1 tsp grated or ground nutmeg

1tsp paprika

1 tsp chilli flakes (optional)

Salt and pepper to taste

Rapeseed oil

1 can red or green lentils

Place the chopped pumpkin and sliced garlic on a baking tray and drizzle with rapeseed oil (or similar).  Cook in an oven around 180 degrees c for about 20 to 30 mins until the pumpkin is crisping and browning. Remove from oven.

In a pan add a little rapeseed oil then add the ginger and onion.  Stir for a few moments then add the spices (chilli, nutmeg, curry powder and paprika), soy sauce and balsamic.  Add the pumpkin and garlic and stir.  Add the vegetable stock with the bovril melted in.  Simmer for around 20 mins.  Turn off the heat and allow to cool.  Transfer contents of the pan to a blender and blend until smooth.  Return to the pan and coconut milk to the desired consistency you like for a soup.  Taste and add salt and pepper to season.  When ready to serve warm the lentils and stir into the soup.  If you intend to keep soup for later then separte this portion and add the lentils when re-heating.  Serve with crusty bread and add roasted pumpin seeds  or roasted chickpeas to the soup on serving if you wish.