There are many flavours included in North African food with such a wide choice of spices and herbs regularly used. In this recipe, we concentrate on using ras-el-hanout, which is a hugely delicious blended spice, typically used in Morocco to pep up your taste buds. This recipe makes quite a thick soup, great to serve with pitta bread or flatbreads. The vegetables are roasted for extra flavour.
Serves: 2 x 500ml insulated flasks, or 2 x 500ml food pots
Preparation Time: 10-15 minutes
Cooking Time: 40-45 minutes
Ingredients:
- 1½tbsp olive oil
- 1 red onion, cut into small wedges
- 2 medium sized carrots
- 150g butternut squash, peeled and cut into small chunks
- 1 small sweet potato, peeled and cut into small chunks (same size as the squash)
- 1 clove of garlic, peeled and chopped
- ½tsp turmeric
- ½tbsp ras el hanout powder
- 550ml vegetable stock
- ½tbsp fresh chopped coriander
- ½tbsp fresh chopped parsley
- Ground black pepper to taste
- 1 unwaxed lemon, cut into quarters
Optional:
- 100g tinned chickpeas (you can add more if you enjoy them)
Method:
- Pour the oil into a baking tray and toss in the vegetables and the lemon. Sprinkle over the turmeric and ras el hanout. Mix around until the vegetables are all coated with oil and spices. Season as required with ground black pepper.
- Set oven to 200°C/180°C fan/Gas Mark 6. When up to the heat, place the tray of vegetables into the oven.
- Roast for around 40-45 minutes (turning occasionally so that all sides cook evenly) until the vegetables are tender. Remove from the oven and take out the lemon wedges. Squeeze any remaining juice from the lemons over the vegetables and stir around.
- Taking care not to burn yourself, remove the vegetables from the baking tray and put into a large pot. Add hot stock, bring up to the boil and then turn down to simmer for approximately 5 minutes. At this stage if using chickpeas, add to the pot for a really thick soup.
- You can now blitz with a blender so that the soup is smooth or leave some chunks in for more texture. Add fresh coriander and parsley and adjust seasoning. Stir, then pour into your insulated bottle (if smooth) or into your food pots if chunkier.
Nutritional Values:
Calories 187, Fat 6g, Saturates 1g, Carbohydrates 29g, Sugar 17g, Fibre 10g, Protein 5g, Salt 0.9g
