I had a butternut squash in my veg box so I decided to use half for a spicy peanut stew and half for this gentle comforting soup, since my veg box also came with fresh ginger and onions. This soup is really easy, but like most soups, it is much better the next day, so you need make everything on day one and eat it day two or three (or freeze it on day 2). Here is what I did.

Put some plain white rice on to cook in a rice cooker.

In a mini food processor, pulse a small onion and half a thumb’s length of ginger. In a large pot, sauté onion and ginger with some salt for about 5 minutes, then add some chilli flakes if you like some heat. Add about 300g of well rinsed red lentils and stir for a minute. Add about 1.5 litres of stock, bring to a boil, then turn heat down and let simmer for 30 mins.

While the lentils are simmering, chop the butternut squash into medium/small cubes, and finely chop about 1/4 thumb’s length of ginger and some garlic (or use powdered). Sauté squash with ginger and garlic for 8-10 mins until nicely cooked. Add squash to the lentil pot and let simmer for 10 mins. You want the whole thing to have simmered for at least 30 mins, so the lentils and squash are very soft. If it simmers longer, that is fine.

When everything is a soft mush, remove from heat, add a few tablespoons of olive oil, and blend either with an immersion blender or a regular blender. Put soup and cooked rice in the fridge overnight or until you are ready to eat.

When you are ready to eat, the soup should look like an unappealing, semi-solid yellow lump. Don’t panic, that is right. Put a giant lump of that in a big bowl with some rice, add boiling water, and stir until you achieve the soup consistency you like, because magically, it will return to nice soup. Then microwave to your desired temperature. Garnish with dried chives and dried spinach, season with additional salt and pepper. Done and done.