In October, I was lucky enough to go on a yoga holiday for mums and babies in Ibiza. It was truly idyllic. We did yoga every morning with a wonderful instructor, explored the best beaches and bays the island had to offer in the afternoons. I met fun and inspiring women, including some of the most caring child minders in the world and got to spend time with a really good friend and her baby. As if that wasn’t enough, we had the most delicious vegan and vegetarian food prepared for us in the form of a copious brunch and dinner, a freshly prepared juice or smoothie pre-practice AND a superfood snack to keep us going on afternoon excursions. 

The food alone is a reason to go back.  I left full of intentions to eat more vegan cuisine and bake superfood snacks for the inevitable afternoon energy dip.  Top of my list was a buckwheat cookie (which, on the final afternoon, I shared nibbles of with Joyce in the shade of a tree on a pristine beach, gazing at turquoise waters) and a gorgeous flapjacky thing, which I managed to snaffle extras of the following day. 

When we got back and I was reminiscing with my friend about our magical week, I was daydreaming of someone preparing me a vegetarian spread of lots of different delicious dishes, whilst she was hankering after a specific soup. My efforts to recreate a full spread resulted in a rather underwhelming, tasteless vegetable plate, complete with a red pepper hummous that tasted all wrong, probably because of the burnt-tasting ‘smoked’ paprika I used. However, when, a few days later, I decided to make a lentil and coconut soup, it was a runaway success, converting my husband and even my 16-month-old daughter!!

So here’s the recipe, with big thanks to the fabulous cooks at Holy Mama for inspiring it. I hope I’ve done it justice with my reverse-engineered version.

Joyce’s joyful lentil, leek & coconut soup

Ingredients

• 350g beluga lentils
• 3 leeks
• 400 ml coconut milk or 200g block of coconut reconstituted with 400ml water
• 3 tsp chopped fresh ginger  
• 2 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tsp ground coriander
• 1/2 tsp ground turmeric
• 1 tbsp coconut oil

Method

Cook the lentils in boiling water until tender.

In a large saucepan, melt the coconut oil and add the ginger, cumin, coriander and turmeric. Move them around with a spatula to stop the ginger from browning and add the chopped leeks.

Sweat these over a low heat until the leeks have softened.

Add the cooked, drained lentils to the pan and pour in the coconut milk plus 300-400ml boiled water, until you have the ratio of bits to liquid that suits you. I like this quite thick with lentils and leek, but you might prefer a soup-ier version.

You could add some coriander to garnish and a little drizzle of yogurt although I normally don’t.