Recipe: Spicy Lentil Soup

After yesterday's post I haven't been able to think about that spicy tomato soup. It made me think of a spicy lentil soup I made a while ago and I thought I should share it with you all.

This soup is perfect for a winter night, a starter or a quick lunch. The flavour is a great strong point and it's also pretty healthy.

Ingredients:
Oil for frying
2 carrots, peeled and grated
1 onion, finely chopped
1 tablespoon cumin seeds
Pinch of chilli flakes
150g red lentils
1 litre vegetable stock
1 lime, juice to taste (optional)

Method:
1. Heat oil in a large saucepan and fry the spices for a couple of minutes. Add the vegetables to cook for five minutes then add the lentils and stock.

2. Bring to the boil and allow to simmer for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Do this until the lentils are tender. Then blend the soup until it has your preferable thickness.

3. Stir through lime until taste if you wish and if you have any spare coriander then serve on top.

A quick and easy recipe that anyone could do with an option to add ingredients. Making soups is so easy and perfect for diets and especially if you are gluten free like myself.

Let me know if you make the soup and if you have an ideas for what else to add to the recipe.

Eating out: Firebird Glasgow

Being gluten free it is a little bit more difficult to find somewhere perfect to eat that will not make me ill. After an intense internet search Firebird popped up and seemed like a great option.

Firebird is situated in the West End of Glasgow, just beside Kelvingrove Art Gallery.The perfect location for me really, Kelvingrove being one of my favourite places in Glasgow. It has such a beautiful atmosphere inside and the staff are lovely, being a waitress this is very important to me. I have visited Firebird twice and both times I have had such a wonderful experience.

On this particular visit we decided to go all out and get a starter as well as a main. They do a special soup of the day, which happened to be tomato, chickpea and cumin. Firebird boots that their soups are always vegetarian, homemade and gluten free where possible. Unfortunately they did not have any gluten free bread but the soup was exceptional. My boyfriend even named it one of the best soups he has ever had. The slight kick gave an interesting spin on the regular tomato soup and the addition of chickpeas was just a bonus. The more veg the better.

For my main I choose the Amalfi Lemon pasta with gluten free penne pasta. The pasta is made using lemon, parmesan, basil and Firebirds own olive oil. The olive oil is available to buy in the restaurant and after tasting this amazing pasta I would definitely consider buying it. The lemon was not too strong and I'll admit I was scared about this but the ratio was perfect. I will say that the olive oil was the best part of the dish and gave it a pesto feel.

The whole lunch was excellent I will definitely be returning soon. I really want to try the without wheat pizzas that are available, maybe next time. Firebird really is an excellent choice for anyone, especially people on a gluten free diet.