Vegan Dhansak Soup & Chapatis

Vegan Dhansak Soup & Chapattis

This soup is a random variation of veggie dhansak, using pretty much what I had in the cupboard! 

I didn't use measurements as I am more of a throw it in the pan sort of wimminz when it comes to soup, so any measurements are aprox (more or less to taste).

Spicy Dhansak Soup

Ingredients:

• Red Lentils
• 1/4 Pineapple
• 2 Bay Leaves
• 1 heaped teaspoon marmite ( or just use a stock cube - I ran out!)
• 2-3 teaspoons Madras Curry Powder (possibly more - measurements out the window)
• 1 Green Chilli ( I would have put more in but it was the last one :( )
• 1 Onion
• 1 small bag of carrots
• Salt & Pepper to taste
• 2 garlic cloves
• Handful of Coriander Leaves
• Oil for frying

Method:

Chop and fry the onion and garlic, then add the chopped carrots. When the onions and garlic and translucent, add finely diced pineapple and chilli. Then add the curry powder and red lentils, add a little more oil if it starts sticking to the bottom. Pour in hot water to cover a few inches above the mixture and turn the heat up. Add the marmite and bay leaves. When the soup starts to boil, turn down and cover with a lid. Leave for aprox 15-20 minutes then check to make sure soup isn't burning (lentils can stick to the bottom super easily). If all the water has gone add another couple of cups of hot water. At this point add the coriander leaves and taste to see if it needs any salt and pepper, and then season to taste. I used a hand blender to whizz my soup up, then serve :)

Alternative soup for fussy 4 year olds:

As my daughter doesn't like spice or most things, I made her a plain lentil soup in another pan. 

I used red lentils, carrots, a little  marmite (add a little stock cube if you have some), then just boil until lentils are cooked. This seems to be the only way she will eat lentils!!

Chapatis

I used a recipe online for the Chapattis, having never made them before! My partner brang home a bag of bread flour which had been slightly damaged so I decided, having a small amount of energy to make Chapatti's with Esme :) Esme enjoyed pretending to be Mary Berry whilst making these!

Recipe from: http://allrecipes.co.uk/recipe/20005/wholemeal-chapattis.aspx

Ingredients:

(Makes 4)

125g Wholemeal Flour

1 pinch of salt

1 tablespoon of Olive Oil

60ml Water

Method:

• Sift together flour and salt (I missed the sift bit - just threw it in the bowl!)
• Stir in the oil and water
• Knead until dough like - add extra flour/water if necessary
• Flour up a flat surface - a board/table etc.
• Cut your kneaded dough into 4
• Either stretch out the dough until very thin or use a rolling pin - actually no idea where our rolling pin is so Esme stretched them out thin
• Heat frying pan on a med-high heat, I added a tiny bit of oil at this stage.
• When hot, cook a Chapati for around a minute or two on each side - until a little golden (taste test to make sure it is cooked). Continue until all Chapatis are cooked.
• Serve with soup!! Yumzords!!

Here is a video of my daughter Esme scoffing said foods!!: