10 Dec Mushroom, vegetable, lentil and noodle broth

Its snowing outside today so a steaming bowl of this broth is perfect for lunch. It contains lots of vegetables, lentils for fibre and protein and spelt noodles. The noodle broth from Clearspring contains Kombu seaweed, Shitake mushroom extract, soya sauce and gives this broth a lovely flavour

1 small punnet of mushrooms, finely sliced
1 small onion, finely chopped
2 leeks, finely sliced
2 carrots, finely diced
1/4 green cabbage, shredded
1 courgette, finely diced
2 cloves garlic, crushed
100g black or puy lentils
1/4 packet of Biona spelt noodles, broken up
1 heaped tsp vegetable bouillon
1 tsp salt
4 tbsp Clearspring noodle broth available in Health food stores
1 tbsp shoyu or tamari soya sauce
2 tbsp olive oil

Place all the vegetables into a large saucepan with 2 tbsp olive oil. Heat till some steam is created and then turn heat down and cook with the lid on for a minute or two. Add the garlic and stir around to cook for a few seconds.
Add the lentils, bouillon, shoyu sauce and enough water to cover the vegetables by an inch or two. Bring to the boil then turn down heat to a simmer and cook with lid on for 25 minutes or until the lentils are cooked.

Then stir in the noodles and add the noodle broth and some more water if necessary to create enough broth around the vegetables. Bring back to the boil and cook for about 6 minutes or until the noodles are cooked.
The noodles will continue to thicken the broth so you will end up with a stew but thin again to serve or eat it as it is!