Lentil Soup

Ingredients
1 Onion (finely chopped)
1 Sprig Fresh Thyme (1/2 teaspoon dried)
2 Carrots (finely diced)
2 Garlic Cloves (finely chopped)
1 Red Chilli (seeded and finely chopped)
3 Tomatoes (roughly chopped)
100g Red Lentils (you can swap these for split yellow peas but you must soak them the night before)
1.2l Vegetable Stock
4 Tablespoons Natural Yoghurt (Greek yoghurt is good too or for those not worried about their waist line whipped double cream!)
1 Lemon
A Splash of Oil
1/2 Teaspoon mustard (can be left out)

Equipment
1 SHARP Knife
1 Chopping Board
1 Large Pan

The Good Bit

1. Heat the oil in your pan and cook the onion, carrot and thyme for about 4 minutes until starting to soften, add the garlic, chilli and mustard if using and cook for another couple of minutes.
2. Whack in the Tomatoes, lentils and stock, bring to the boil, cover and simmer gently for 30minutes, test that you can crush a lentil with the back of a spoon against the side of a pan, if you cant, cook a little longer.
3. Mix half the lemon zest into the yoghurt and pour the juice into the soup, season the soup with salt and pepper, ladle into four bowls with a scoop of the yoghurt in the centre of each and sprinkle over any remaining zest. A good Sprinkle of freshly ground black pepper goes extremely well with this.

Serves 4