Soup Day

Every Tuesday, our kindy fills with the smell of soup simmering on the stove. Tamariki help chop the vegetables and set the table, then kaiako and tamariki sit down together to eat as a whānau, in community.

Some children haven't had lentil soup before and are unsure at first. We don't push. They watch their friends enjoy it, and over time, most come round to loving it too.

We've also found some tamariki prefer it blended, so at kindy we now blend half the pot. It's gone down so well that we've had to double our quantities.

Our soup recipe

This makes a big pot, with plenty left over to freeze for another day. Treat the quantities as a guide — use what you have and adjust as you like.

You'll need (roughly):

• 1 cup diced celery

• 1 cup diced onion

• 1 cup diced leek

• 1 cup diced carrot

• A little oil, for sautéing

• A few cloves of garlic, crushed

• Chopped pumpkin

• Chopped kumara

• 1 cup red lentils

• 1 cup other lentils (we use green at kindy, though brown are just as good)

• 1 cup barley (optional — see note below)

• Water

• Salt, to taste

• Organic vegetable stock

Method:

1. Sauté the celery, onion, leek and carrot in a little oil over low heat for at least 10 minutes, until soft.

2. Add the garlic, pumpkin, kumara, and both cups of lentils.

3. Add barley too if you like, and if no one has an allergy or intolerance. (We leave it out at kindy because of allergies in our whānau.)

4. Fill the pot with water, add salt to taste and the vegetable stock.

5. Simmer for at least an hour.

Serve in generous bowls with bread if you like, and freeze any extra for another day.