I accidentally bought three (!!!) Sabrina Ghayour recipe books. It’s a long and unpleasant tale but this was the silver lining.

This carrot and tamarind soup was the first recipe I tried. It looked so simple and I had all the ingredients to hand. It made for a nice ‘working from home’ lunch. There was so much of it, that it lasted for a few more lunches in the work office.

Ingredients

• Olive oil

• 2 large onions, roughly chopped

• 1.5 kg carrots, peeled and cut into rough chunks

• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon plus extra to garnish (optional)

• 1 teaspoon ground turmeric

• 1 teaspoon ground ginger

• 1 teaspoon paprika

• 1 tablespoon garlic granules

• 1 tablespoon unsweetened tamarind paste

• 1.5 litres boiling water

• Maldon sea salt flakes and freshly ground black pepper

Instructions

• Place a large saucepan over a medium heat and pour in enough olive oil to coat the base of the pan. Add the onions and carrots and cook for a few minutes, without browning. Add the cinnamon, turmeric, ginger, paprika and garlic granules and stir until the carrots and onions are well coated in the oil and spices. Season with a generous amount of salt and pepper, then add the tamarind paste and the boiling water and stir well.

• Reduce the heat to medium-low and gently simmer the soup for 30 minutes, or until the carrots and onion are cooked through. Remove from the heat.

• Using a stick blender, blitz the soup until nice and smooth. Check and adjust the seasoning then serve drizzled with olive oil and sprinkled with a little extra shake of cinnamon, if liked.