Red Lentil Soup Recipe (WW friendly)

My first Weight Watchers friendly recipe - red lentil soup. I had this for lunch and it filled me up nicely. Because it has lentils in it, I generally find I don't need to have bread with it as it's substantial enough on it's own (especially good for a cold rainy day like today!)

This works out at 4pp per serving. Preparation time was around 5 minutes (it's just chopping a few vegetables, cooking time was around 15-20 minutes and washing up time was about 5 minutes)

Ingredients (Serves 1, generously)

1 small onion, diced
1 small carrot, finely chopped
1 small stick of celery, finely chopped
40g split red lentils
450ml boiling water
Half a stock cube (I use a low salt chicken cube, any would work)
A dash of Worcester Sauce
1/4 teaspoon Cayenne Pepper
Fresh coriander (around 5 leaves)
Salt and Pepper
Low calorie spray

1. Spritz your pan with low calorie cooking spray and, on a medium heat, soften the onion, carrot and celery.

2. When softened add the dried lentils (I rinse them first) to the onions, carrot and celery along with around 300ml of the hot water.

3. Add the seasoning (a dash of Worcester Sauce - I can't get enough of this!, the Cayenne pepper and the crumbled stock cube) and stir in.

4. Leave to simmer for a few minutes. After about 4 minutes or so, I found that the lentils had soaked up most of the liquid and it was at this stage that I added the additional 150ml water. You may not need so much, you may need a little more - just make sure that the lentils are covered in liquid at all times.

5. Simmer for a further 10 minutes or until the lentils are completely soft and fluffy looking. Blend mixture with a hand blender (I partially blend mine so I still have some small pieces of carrot in there for bite) and season to taste

6. Finely chop a few fresh coriander leaves (I used about 5) and stir through before serving.

All in all, I find this a quick, tasty and filling soup. The red lentils, to me, have a slightly spicy feel anyway and the Worcester sauce and cayenne pepper give it a mild warmth. The coriander just adds a little freshness which you get every few mouthfuls or so, although you could leave this out if it wasn't to hand.