The Loyal Lentils

Do you have a dish that never fails you, like a loyal friend, who keeps showing up and impressing you? I have a few and this lentil stew has been the star of my regular repertoire for years. This stew is one of the most made and loved recipes from the old blog. In it’s early days it started out as a chili but it’s evolved and now it tastes more like a stew from the Indian diaspora than a latin chili, but thats besides the point now, it’s just such a good lentil stew. All the extras, the toppings such as yogurt, cucumber salad, coriander and hot sauce, completes and balances the meal.

© Recipe from Bowls of Goodness by Nina Olsson
Kyle Books, Octopus Publishing Group, Hachette

Lentils can come across as a bit dull sometimes, but this dish is nothing like it. With flavours that really sing together – earthy cumin and cinnamon, tangy lime and coriander, hot chilli and garlic – it harmonises perfectly with sweet butternut squash and chewy lentils. You can omit or substitute the butternut squash with sweet potato, aubergine or a big handful of cavolo nero ot savoy cabbage (chopped and sturdy stems removed). if you want to make the stew in amore minmal fashion withoutthe butternut squash that is delicous too.

If you need one more reason to eat lentils, consider that it’s one of the more climat-smart foods to eat! if you want to maximise the earth-friendliness of this meal, Serve the stew with a more sustainable grain than rice, like millet or sorghum.

Keep in mind that you can be flexible and use ingridents with similar flavour profile if you don’t have everything at home. The pickled cucumber salad can be substitued with other pickles etc.

Don’t be discouraged by the long list of ingredients, it’s mostly spices that you will already have in your spice rack.

Instructions

If your lentils are not cooked already, Cook the lentils according to the packet instructions, rinse, drain and set aside. Heat a frying pan over a medium–high heat. Add the oil and gently fry the shallots until transparent. Add the garlic, spices, pepper, chilli and tomatoes and fry for a few minutes over a medium–low heat.

Stir in the lentils, squash, tahini and honey. Pour in the coconut milk and stir, then let the chilli simmer over a medium–low heat for 5 minutes, adding a little water if needed and stirring regularly. Add the lime juice and soy, then let it simmer for a further few minutes while stirring. Taste and adjust the seasoning with salt and pepper. Remove from the heat.
Mix the ingredients for the yogurt sauce. Make the cucumber salad by combining the shaved cucumber and rice vinegar.

Drizzle the chilli with extra virgin olive oil, top with freshly chopped coriander and serve with the cool yogurt sauce and salad. Serve with a hot sauce, rice and lime as extras on the table.

Serves 4

250g le puy or beluga lentils
1 tablespoon olive oil
5–7 shallots, finely chopped
4 garlic cloves, finely chopped to a
paste with 1 teaspoon salt
1 ½ teaspoons ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground turmeric
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon paprika powder
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1 red pepper, halved, deseeded and
finely chopped
1-2 red chillies, deseeded and
finely chopped
2 tomatoes, finely chopped
400g butternut squash, cooked
and chopped into small pieces
400ml coconut milk
1 tablespoon tahini
1 tablespoons honey or agave syrup
the juice of 1 lime
3 tablespoons shoy sauce or tamari sauce
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
salt and pepper

simple yogurt sauce:
200g yogurt or vegan yogurt
(soygurt or coconut yogurt)
1 teaspoon honey or agave syrup
drizzle of extra virgin olive oil

quickest cucumber salad:
½ cucumber, shaved into ribbons
4 tablespoons rice vinegar

to serve:
fresh coriander
hot sauce, like sriracha
cooked brown rice or another whole grain like sorgum, millet or kamut
lime wedges

Vegan and gluten-free notes

VE ✔︎
GF Opt for tamari sauce instead of soy sauce.