Marmite haters, look away now. This Vegan Lentil Soup with Marmite Drizzle is emphatically not for you. In the olden days it would have been no use to readers outside of the UK either. But – joy of joys, miracle of miracles, all hail the internet – you can now buy Marmite online and have it shipped anywhere in the planet. Take a bow, britsuperstore.com. You do the world great service.
One of our friendly followers, Tess HS, first alerted us to the possibility of adding Marmite to your lentil soup. This seemed like a great idea to us – one of the best ever, in fact – until we remembered that some strange people have an aversion to this moist, flavourful, heaven sent, sticky brown goo. I suppose there’s no accounting for taste…
So, in the interests of global accord, the only way to approach this seemed to us to do the soup and the Marmite separately, allowing lovers and haters both to enjoy their dinner. We served this with blue cheese too and the results were (pardon my language) absolutely freakin’ delicious. It’s vegan if you ditch the cheese, of course.
This is a great, well-rounded, hearty soup. The lentils, as you well know, are a good source of protein and fibre, while the Marmite is an excellent source of B vitamins, including the B12 that vegans need to keep an eye on. B vits, as you also know, help the body break down carbs, protein and fats and help keep your nervous system healthy. Can’t live without ’em… Whether you can live without Marmite is another matter but with our wonderful drizzle, the choice is yours!
- 100g red lentils
- 1 onion, diced
- 2 cloves garlic, sliced
- 3 carrots, sliced
- 1 tin (400g) chopped tomatoes
- 2 tablespoons tomato puree
- 700ml vegetable stock
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 heaped teaspoons dried oregano
- 1 dessertspoon Marmite per person
- Saute the onions, garlic and carrots in the olive oil for 10 minutes.
- Add the lentils, tomato puree, oregano and 500ml of the vegetable stock.
- Bring to the boil then reduce to a simmer. Check frequently and add more stock if necessary.
- Simmer for 20 minutes or so until the lentils are soft.
- Buzz in a food processor or with a stick blender but leave some texture.
- To make the drizzle, place the Marmite in a jug then simply add an equal amount of boiling water. Stir well and drizzle on your soup to your heart's content.
I’m a marmite middle-of-the-roader. I don’t mind it spread very thinly on toast, maybe once every couple of months … in fact I think I’m probably leaning more towards marmite don’t-really-liker. But in lentil soup I can really imagine it giving it a huge flavour boost (and goodness boost!).
We didn’t know there was such a thing as a Marmite middle-of-the-roader. It usually invokes such strong reactions (we’re love, love, lovers, of the stuff, for example!) It is great on this soup though, even if you do turn out a don’t-really-liker…
Thank you
Such a wonderful article this is… When I was reading this article really I want to drink this soup at that time, it’s very hard to control… Very delicious recipe, and want to eat after going to home, Thank you so much for share this recipe…
Great Post … LOved it