If you’ve been around here for a while or follow me on instagram, you’ll know that I love lentils. They tick all the “storecupboard staple” boxes for me - affordable, nutritious and versatile. I’m always playing around with new ways to use them in my cooking and today’s recipe is the latest.
For the base, lentils are cooked with onions, carrots, celery, garlic and herbs to maximise flavour (you could make a double batch to have a container or two on standby in the fridge for speedy midweek lunches or suppers). They are topped with a fresh lemony yoghurt and lots of spiced onions - everyone will be fighting over these!
What’s your favourite way to enjoy lentils? Please share your recipe ideas in the comments below, we’d all love to know!
Feeds 4, takes 25 minutes
250g brown lentils
6 white onions: 2 cut in half through the root, 4 finely sliced
1 carrot
2 sticks of celery
1 bulb of garlic, cut in half crosswise
3 bay leaves
8 tbsp olive oil, plus extra for serving
1 heaped tsp ground cumin
1 heaped tsp ground coriander
1 lemon
200g thick Greek yoghurt
Small bunch of parsley, finely chopped
Small bunch of dill, finely chopped
2 tsp aleppo pepper
Thoroughly rinse the lentils. Bring a large pot of salted water to the boil, add the lentils, the 2 halved onions, carrot, celery, garlic and bay leaves. Simmer for 15-20 minutes until tender then drain and remove the veg, garlic and bay leaves.
While the lentils cook, heat 6 tbsp olive oil in your largest frying pan. Once hot, add the sliced onions and a pinch of salt and fry over a fairly high heat for 10-12 minutes, stirring regularly, until well browned and crispy at the edges. If they are catching, turn the heat down a little. Add the spices and fry for another minute then remove from the heat.
Zest the lemon into the yoghurt and stir to combine. Juice the lemon and add to the drained lentils along with the remaining 2 tbsp olive oil and herbs. Taste for seasoning.
Spoon the lentils onto a large platter and dollop over the yoghurt. Top with the onions, aleppo pepper and a final drizzle of olive oil.
This sounds like an interesting variation on mujadara, which I’ve been making a lot lately. The key difference seems to be aleppo pepper, something I’m not familiar with. And I don’t recall seeing it in local stores. Do I need to get it online? Or is there some substitute?
This may be a silly question, but do I need to peel the onions and garlic that go in with the lentils?