Moroccan Role

The first Sunday in January was a quiet one and an opportunity to wind down after one of the best and most enjoyable Christmas holidays I had experienced. The weather was damp and overcast everywhere was shrouded in mist when I went out to walk the dog; it seemed that no matter how hard I tried I couldn't keep myself or the dog dry for the duration of the walk.

This meant that when I returned home I needed something hot and fiery to warm me up and take my mind off the dull weather. The solution was to make a Moroccan Lentil soup dressed with coriander oil.

As I poured enough olive oil into the bottom of the Le Cresceut dish to cover it the sound of Fleetwood Mac's 1969 record Then Play On rang out of the speakers of my stereo. The album was made at a time when they were fronted by blues purist and talented guitarist/ songwriter Peter Green and its very English take on North American blues is far removed from the yuppie corporate rock they became known for in the late seventies.

I first top and tailed two white onions and one carrot. I then peeled the carrot and diced the carrot and onion until they were the size of one centimetre square cubes and not dissimilar to the ones I and others were taught to count with at primary school.

After I had heated the oil in the Le Cresceut dish on the hob for about one minute I added the diced carrot and onion together with three finely sliced cloves of garlic, a tablespoon of ground coriander, two teaspoons of cumin and a teaspoon of paprika to the dish.  After I had stirred everything together with a large tablespoon so as make the spices blend with the vegetables, I covered the dish for around ten minutes and sweated its contents on a low light while always remembering to stir the contents occasionally so they did not stick to the bottom of the dish.

After the ten minutes was up I added six ounces of dried red lentils, which are pretty easy to pick up from most local supermarkets, together with two and half pints of vegetable stock. I then brought the dish to boiling point and boiled it for ten minutes before leaving it to simmer slowly on the hob for around half an hour.

While the dish cooked on the hob I made the coriander oil by sticking two ounces of fresh coriander, grown in a box on the kitchen window, a clove of garlic, four tablespoons of olive oil, the juice of a whole lemon and half a teaspoon of chili flakes in the blender. After they had been sufficiently pureed by the blender I poured the coriander oil into a small side dish and reserved it to be added to the soup later.

After the soup had cooked for the requisite time I added it to the blender and then after blending I reheated it and served it. To give the soup an extra kick so as to ensure I was properly warmed through I drizzled some of the coriander oil atop it.

Hot green coriander oil on top of what is a substantial soup and the perfect winter warmer. 

The soup certainly got the job done as far as warming me up was concerned and the taste of the coriander oil served to transport me from a muddy wet field in the middle of winter to one of the many top class curry houses in my local area.