A warm recipe for potato and lentil soup

Today's recipe is one that'll warm the cockles of your heart, as my Granny says. It's a recipe for potato and lentil soup, and it comes courtesy of the great website The Daily Spud.

On the road to recovering from pre-Christmas dodgy stomach syndrome, I got to the stage where soup was the only thing that would do. This is what I made for myself on Christmas Eve and knew I was on the mend when I went back for seconds. Eating Christmas dinner the next day suddenly seemed possible.

It’s a simple soup and an easy one to remember – just equal weights of potatoes, red lentils, onion and carrot, plus some garlic, spices, seasonings and water or stock. It’s good for what ails you.

• olive oil for frying
  
• 150g onion (about 1 medium-sized specimen), finely chopped
  
• 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
  
• 150g carrot (1 large), finely sliced
  
• 150g potato (1 small-ish spud), peeled and diced
  
• 150g red lentils, rinsed in several changes of water
  
• 1 tsp ground cumin
  
• 0.5 tsp turmeric
  
• pinch of cayenne pepper
  
• 800ml water or light vegetable stock
  
• 1 tsp salt or to taste (less if using stock that’s already salted)
  
• freshly ground black pepper to taste
  
• squeeze of lemon juice (around 1 tsp or to taste)
  
• A blender or food processor for blending the soup – an immersion blender is the handiest.