Spicy chorizo and lentil soup: Not just for winter!

Technically, this is a winter favourite. But as Cape Town has failed to warm up properly, even in October, this is a Saturday-night-at-home-with-friends favourite. (Disclaimer: this is a variation on a soup that my mother kindly made me this weekend)

There are a couple of things that are essential for a truly splendid soup; ones that are true for other kind of soup too:

First, good stock. In this one, I dilute two to three tablespoons of marmite in around a litre of water (it’s delicious with any meaty soup or stew!) and add an equal amount of organic vegetable stock. You can also make amazing chicken stock and use this in any soup (except for fish soup). I’ll try to remember to post the recipe for this at some stage.

Second, use fresh seasonal vegetables. These are always the most delicious and, most importantly for a student, the cheapest.

Lastly, get decent quality meat. While you can get away with using lamb neck rather than a prime cut of lamb in a lamb stew, this is not the case for all meats (although, if I’m honest, lamb neck is a rather nice cut of lamb – it just needs to simmer for a long time so it’s more appropriate for soups and stews than, say, a meat-and-potatoes dish). In this case, I use an amazing chorizo from the Stellenbosch Saturday morning market. It’s pretty much the best I’ve seen anywhere – not too fatty, and wonderfully spicy to boot.

Erm, also in the case of lentils, rinse them and let them sit in lukewarm water for at least 15 minutes before you add them to the soup. This is because the acidic tomatoes and tinned tomatoes will make them hard if you just add them to the soup without soaking.

Also, I should add that this recipe makes an exhorbitant amount of soup – enough for around 8 good-sized servings. Needless to say, I freeze some for later meals.

You need:

• Around three cups of roughly chopped seasonal veg (I used green beans, julienne carrots, spring onions, celery, fresh tomatoes and onions)
• About a cup of chopped chorizo
• About a cup of brown lentils (soaked, etc)
• Half a cup of pearl barley
  
• Two to three teaspoons of chilli flakes
• Two to three teaspoons of paprika (these depend on how spicy you like your soup – always add a little less to begin with, and add more, according to your taste, later)
• Around a cup of white wine (a cheap chardonnay is good)
  Approximately two litres of good stock (a litre of marmite stock and a litre of organic veg stock – I use the Organix homefoods one)
• A tin of tomatoes (preferably chopped)
• A tablespoon of sugar (essential for tomatoey dishes to counter the acidity)
• Salt and pepper to taste

To make:

1. First, rinse the lentils and allow them to soak for a bit.
2. Fry the chopped onions in a little olive oil at a low heat until they’re soft.
3. Keeping the stove on a low heat, add the rest of the chopped veg. Allow these to cook together for a few minutes.
4. Add half of the marmite stock, half of the veg stock, half of the white wine, the tin of tomatoes and the sugar.
5. Allow to simmer for around 10 minutes, then add the lentils, chorizo, chilli flakes, paprika and some salt to taste.
6. Allow to simmer with the pot’s lid on for a further half an hour, adding equal amounts of stock and wine as required. While this is a substantial soup, it should still be liquid – so don’t let too much liquid evaporate; stodgy soup isn’t really soup.

Serve in individual bowls with coriander leaves as a garnish, and either rye bread or fresh panini with unsalted butter on the side.
 

I drank the Villiera gewurtstraminer with this – but some of my friends preferred the Durbanville Sauvignon Blanc.