Spiced beetroot soup

Ingredients

• 2 large carrots

• 2 waxy potatoes
• 5 beetroots
• 2 medium brown onions
• A thumb-sized piece of ginger
• 1 tbsp groundnut oil
• 1 tsp mustard seeds
• Crème fraîche or sour cream, to serve
• Dill fronds, to serve
• Rye bread, to serve

Method

Scrub the carrots, potatoes and beetroot. Peel the onions and ginger. Dice the vegetables into roughly even pieces. Warm the oil in a saucepan and tip in the vegetables. Add the mustard seeds and season with salt and black pepper. Cook for 5 mins.

Add 600ml water and bring to the boil. Reduce to a simmer and cook for 40 mins, until the vegetables are soft. Remove from the heat, allow to cool a little, then blitz to a smooth purée in a blender or with a stab mixer.

Warm through (or chill completely – it works cold too) and serve with crème fraîche and dill.