Vic Borrill (Brighton & Hove Food Partnership)
Serves: 6
Prep time: 10 mins
Cook time: 35 mins
Ingredients:
1 tbsp olive oil
700g carrots, chopped
2 medium onions, chopped
3cm of fresh ginger, peeled and chopped
4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
100g red lentils
700ml vegetable stock
Salt and pepper, to taste
2 tbsp chopped coriander
Veg Portions / Serving: 2
Cheap and easy soup to make, plus super healthy.
Method:
Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan. Fry the garlic, onions, ginger and carrots for 5 minutes.
Add the red lentils and stir in.
Dissolve the stock cubes or bouillon powder in the water and pour into the pan. Bring to the boil.
Stir, turn heat low, and cover the pan. Simmer for about 25 minutes, or until all the vegetables are soft and the lentils are cooked
Remove the pan from the heat and blend the soup using a liquidiser or stick blender.
Taste and add seasoning if necessary. (For a more chunky texture, leave some of the soup un-processed.)
Add the chopped coriander and serve.
Engaging Kids
Kids who engage regularly with veg through veg-themed activities, such as arts and crafts, sensory experiences, growing and cooking are shown to be more likely to eat the veg they engage with. Encouraging kids to engage and play with veg is the handy first step to them developing a good relationship with veg and life-long healthy eating.
Kids in the kitchen
Help older kids chop the veg and stir the ingredients in the pan as they cook. Let younger ones very carefully help to blitz the soup, keeping a close eye that the hot mixture doesn’t spit (better yet, allow it to cool before blitzing). Have little ones roughly chop the coriander with scissors and scatter over the top of the soup.
Find more ideas, safety tips, videos and even a free chart in our Kids in the Kitchen section here.
Activities
Why not try making a carrot face mask, a cut-out and colour carrot or carrot crown?
Or grab some of our free games & puzzles with carrots like our Carrot Launcher or Get Over It Carrot game?
Kids more interested in science? Watch Stefan Gates’ carrot flute experiment and have a go if you feel up to it, it’s a giggle for kids to watch and play!
Find loads more free carrot-themed crafts here and games here.
Sensory
Why not use carrots as a way of exploring smell? Try tossing some carrot slices or sticks in a little cinnamon and try taking a bite of a carrot with your nose pinched, and another without. Can you notice the difference? 80% of flavour is actually in the smell, so this is a great way to explore flavour! If your child doesn’t feel up to taking a bite, they could lick instead, or sniff a carrot slice with cinnamon and one without to compare how adding flavouring impacts our experience of veggies.
Watch our video from Ruth Platt for a visual guide to exploring carrots with your senses here. Find more sensory ideas, tips and videos here. If you get stuck and need a little help with describing words, we have a selection for you here, too!
Serving
When serving it up, why not let your child help you plate it up and add any toppings (croutons or pumpkin seeds or grated cheese or fresh chopped herbs are all delicious additions) or make it look as attractive as they can!
Find the best ways of involving your own child and their skills and interests on our Roles for Kids page.
Vic Borrill (Brighton & Hove Food Partnership)
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