Serves 4

Ingredients

2 medium sized carrots

½ Jap pumpkin

500g Spinach leaves

½ Sweet potato pealed

½ cup Red lentils

1 brown onion diced

Pinch hing/asafoetida (pick up from Asian/Indian supermarket)

1 tsp cumin seeds

1 tsp turmeric powder

1 Organic vegetable stock cube

6 cups water

1 inch freshly ginger grated

Pinch sea salt

¼ tsp black pepper

½ lemon

Small bunch coriander

Soak lentils for a minimum of 1 hour before cooking. Over night  The longer they soak the faster they cook. You can soak the lentils over night if you wish. Once soaked, strain and rinse until the water runs clear. Boil the 6 cups of water add the vege stock cube and stir until it dissolves.

In a separate pot, turn the heat up high, add the onion and stir until lightly brown, then add lentils and cumin seeds. Stir through for a few minutes then add the water with vege stock and stir. As the water begins to foam, skim off the top as much as possible before adding the vegetables.

Prep the carrot and sweet potato and pumpkin. Peel and cut into similar size pieces, keeping in mind how chunky you would like your soup to be at the end. The smaller the size of the vegetable the more likely they will breakdown and become puree. Add turmeric powder, fresh ginger, sea salt black pepper, and hing/asafoetida.

Once the soup comes to boil, turn down to low heat and place the lid on.

Cook for 20min or until vegetables have ½ broken down into a puree.

Prep spinach leaves and add with the heat off. Place the lid back on for a few minutes for the leaves to lightly cook before serving.

When serving, add a squeeze of lemon, some fresh coriander and salt to taste.

**Note hing/asafoetida is important to help the breakdown of the lentils and support the digestive system to metabolise then without producing wind. Washing the lentils and skimming the foam also helps with this.