Vegan Lentil Soup W Lemon And Garlic - cooking recipe

Ingredients

3 tablespoons olive oil
1 onion, chopped
3 stalks celery, chopped
2 carrots, sliced
4 garlic cloves, chopped
1 large potato, peeled and diced
250 g red lentils, rinsed and picked over (9 oz /1 large generous cup)
1 liter vegetable stock (4 cups, check gluten-free if required)
3 bay leaves
2 lemons, halved
3/4 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon Tabasco sauce (more if preferred) or 1/4 teaspoon a pinch cayenne pepper
ground black pepper, to taste
8 thin lemon slices (to garnish)
flat-leaf parsley, roughly chopped for garnish

Preparation

Heat the olive oil in a large pan. Add the onion and cook for 5 minutes.
Stir in the celery, carrots the potato and half of the garlic (2 cloves). Cook for a few minutes, until beginning to soften.
Add the lentils and stock to the pan. Bring to the boil. Reduce heat and simmer, covered for 30 minutes.
Add the bay leaves, remaining garlic and half of the lemons (lemons-skin and all). Cook the soup a further 10 minutes.
Remove the bay leaves.
Squeeze the juice from the remaining lemons, then stir into the soup.
Pour the soup into a food processor or blender, process until smooth. It's better to do this step in a couple of batches.
Transfer the blended soup back to the pan.
Stir in the cumin, tobasco or cayenne and season to taste.
Ladle the soup into bowls and top each with a couple of thin lemon slices and a sprinkle of chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley.