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Spicy green cabbage red lentil and chickpea soup
This soup can double up as a stew as it is thick and chunky and very warming, just what we need with the bad weather outside. Pataks make a very nice paste – not to be confused with the Pataks curry sauces which i don’t use. The paste  has a lovely mix of spices is very concentrated so you don’t need to use too much. You can get in Tesco or Evergreen.
Ingredients
2 red onions finely chopped
4 cloves of crushed garlic
2 heaped tablespoons of Pataks coconut and corriander or korma paste
1 tsp turmeric
1 tsp black mustard seeds (optional)
1 or 2 tsp sea salt
8 oz red lentils – split or whole
1 tin of chickpeas in unsalted water and organic if possible
1/2 savoy, round green cabbage or pointed cabbage washed and finely shredded
1 tin of chopped tomatoes
olive or coconut oil for frying
Method
Fry the onion in the oil until soft. Add the mustard seeds if using, the Pataks paste, turmeric and garlic. Stir round on a medium heat and let it all sizzle a bit but careful not to let it burn.
Wash the red lentils in a sieve under a running tap and add to the spice mix.
Add the tin tomatoes and the chickpeas including their water.
Top up with water so that the soup is just covered.
Cook for 15 minutes and then add the cabbage stirring well and add more water if necessary.
Cook for a further 10 minutes until the cabbage is soft and wilted.
Season with the salt but be careful and add one tsp at  a time – the Pataks paste contains salt and you don’t want to over do it.
Serve with warm pita bread and hummus or brown rice or just by itself!
Recipe by Liz Nolan