Lemony Lentil And Crispy Kale Soup

By Anna Jones

I love this simple soup, which is somewhere between a dhal and a soup – it reminds me of the curry that is served in southern India with dosas. This soup is cleansing and spiked with turmeric and a lot of lemon.

Photography by Brian Ferry

It’s what I crave if I’ve over-indulged or been around food too long (an occupational hazard – a very nice one). I serve this with a kitchari. Turmeric is a favourite spice of mine. If I am feeling off-colour I stir a teaspoon into hot water and sip it as a reviving tonic. I love the vibrant, deep saffron-gold colour, the clean, sharp, savoury acid note and the hard to-put-your-finger-on favour. It’s a real star on the health front, as it is an anti-inflammatory and has anti-carcinogenic properties. What a spice.

Ingredients

  • a splash of olive or rapeseed oil
  • 1 leek, washed, trimmed and finely sliced
  • 1 teaspoon ground turmeric
  • 2 teaspoons ground cumin
  • 2 teaspoons black mustard seeds
  • juice of 2–3 lemons
  • 250g split red lentils
  • 1 veg stock cube, or 1 tablespoon veg stock powder
  • 4 handfuls of kale (or other greens), washed, trimmed and shredded

To serve (optional)

  • yoghurt, stirred with a little sea salt

Method

  1. Get a large pan on the heat. Add a little oil and turn the heat to medium. Add the leek and fry for a few minutes, until it has softened and smells sweet, then add the spices and fry for another couple of minutes. Squeeze in the juice of 1 lemon and stir around to lift all the spices from the bottom of the pan.
  2. Next, add the lentils, 1.5 litres of water and the stock cube or powder and allow to bubble away for 20–35 minutes, until the lentils are cooked and the soup has thickened. Turn off the heat and, if you like, you can blitz the whole lot to a thin dhal consistency, then squeeze in the juice of the remaining 2 lemons, tasting as you go to make sure it doesn’t get too lemony. It may seem like a lot, but you really want the lemony tang to come through.
  3. Just before you’re ready to serve, sauté the kale in a little olive oil until it slightly softens but begins to crisp at the edges. Ladle into bowls and top with the salted yoghurt and the crispy kale. enough.

Anna Jones is a cook, stylist and writer.

One grey, late-for-work day, she decided to quit her office job after reading an article about following your passion by which bit of the newspaper you read first.

Within days, she had a place on the training programme at Jamie Oliver’s Fifteen in London. After earning her stripes there, she went to chef at Le Caprice in London and also cooked in Spain and the Chianti fields of Tuscany. She then returned to the Jamie Oliver family to work as his food stylist, writer and food creative on books, TV shows and food campaigns. During that time, she cooked in all sorts of places, from East End school kitchens and Sydney beaches to American Indian reservations. She helped shape up the fattest town in America, led cooking classes at the TED talks and cooked for rock stars, royalty and the G20 at Downing Street.

After seven incredible years at Jamie Oliver, Anna now works independently as a stylist and food writer in London. She has worked with some of the best-loved cooks and chefs of our time, from Antonio Carluccio to Yotam Ottolenghi, Sophie Dahl to the Fabulous Baker Brothers. She has also worked with some of the country’s biggest food brands, including Daylesford, Leon and innocent drinks, for whom she wrote the book Hungry?

Anna believes that vegetables should be put at the centre of every table, and is devoted to helping people make a long-term commitment to eating well and feeling amazing. She is led by the joy of food – the spritz of freshness when you peel an orange or the crackle and waft of deep savoury spice when you add curry leaves to a pan of hot oil – and thinks that healthy eating is as much about pleasure as anything else.

Anna writes regular columns for The Guardian Cook and The Pool. She lives, writes and cooks in Hackney, East London. For examples of her styling work, please click here.