For Lesley-Ann

Makes 4 hearty dinner portions that won’t leave you hungry. Total calories for the lot is 900, so each portion is 225 calories. Or, you could have 2 dinner portions + 3 lunch portions, giving you 150 calories for lunch. Freezes well, obviously.

Ingredients

• 1 onion (135g)
• 1 stick celery (90g)
• 240g chestnut mushrooms
• 1 tablespoon (15 ml) sunflower oil
• 40g red lentils
• 150g yellow split peas
• 15g dried porcini (or other wild mushrooms)
• 3-4 cloves garlic (15g)
• 15ml dark soy sauce
• salt, pepper to taste

Directions

Use a large saucepan.

1. Chop onion and celery finely, fry on low heat in oil until golden (10 mins).
2. Chop mushrooms into small pieces and add them and the garlic and fry for 5 mins or so more. The mushrooms should release liquid, but if it all starts to stick and threatens to burn, add a bit of water.
3. Wash yellow peas in 3 changes of water. Add to pan. Add enough water to cover and then about as much again. Bring to a simmer. Add red lentils and dried porcini.
4. Cook until the peas are tender (30-45 minutes, depending on the hardness of your water).
5. Use a wand blender to buzz it up to a consistency that’s to your taste – I like to keep a bit of texture in it rather than it being perfectly smooth.