Portions: 2 generous bowls

Ingredients and method:

For the soup:

• 1 tbsp of olive oil
• 2-3 cloves of garlic, finely minced
• Half a large bulb of fennel, roughly chopped
• 2 carrots, diced into small pieces
• 1 ripe tomato, diced
• 1/2 tsp of salt
• 3/4  large red chili , minced (save the rest of the chili for the salsa); feel free to adjust to taste, you can use white pepper for a more subtle taste
• 1 pint of water or unsalted vegetable or chicken stock; adjust the salt accordingly if you use seasoned stock
• 1 sachet Quaker Oat so Simple Original, 27 gram

Method:

• Place a pan on medium-high heat, add the olive oil and garlic and cook until the garlic is soft and the oil is aromatic.
• Add the carrots, fennel, tomatoes, chilies and salt, turn the heat down to medium and cook the vegetables stirring every so often and placing the lid back on until  the vegetables are softened and slightly caramelized.
• Meanwhile get the water or unsalted vegetable or chicken stock to a boil and add to the vegetables and simmer with the lid on until the vegetable are fully cooked through and mash like soft.
• Add the oats and cook for a minute until the oats are cooked.
• Now tilt the chunky soup in the jug of a blender/ food processor, give a minute for the temperature to drop and blend until creamy.
• Pour the soup back into the pot, add more seasoning or/and liquid if required and heat it a minute or so and place the lid back on until ready to eat.
• For the Tomato and chive salsa:
• Finely dice a medium sized tomato, leftover red chili, 5-6 sprigs of chive and 1 tsp of fennel dill and combine well with 1tbsp of olive oil, squeeze of a slice of lemon and a pinch of salt.
• Store in the fridge until ready to eat.