Not just another lentil salad....this is Can't-Stop-Eating-It delish. Made with green lentils, feta, tomatoes, cucumber and drizzled with a beautiful lemon salad dressing. Cooking the lentils in a simple flavoured broth rather than just water or marinating canned lentils in the dressing makes all the difference. Outrageously long-looking ingredient list is misleading! Keeps well for 2 days, recipe video below.
Prep Time15 minutesmins
Cook Time20 minutesmins
Total Time35 minutesmins
Servings: 4
Calories: 341cal
Author: Nagi
Ingredients
Lentils:
1 cup / 200g dried green lentils(or other lentils) (Note 1 for canned)
1 cup / 200g vegetable or chicken broth(or water + 1 bouillon cube, crumbled)
1 1/2 cups / 375 mlwater
1large garlic clove, smashed (Note 2)
Lemon peel(about 1.5 x 5 cm / 3/4 x 2")
1bay leaf, dry or fresh
2sprigs thyme, or 1/2 tsp dried thyme
1rib celery, broken into 3 or 4 pieces (or just a handful of leafy fronds)
Salad:
250 g / 8oz cherry tomatoes, halved or quartered (Note 3)
2cucumbers, cut into quarters then diced
1red onion, finely diced
¼cupcoriander / cilantro, finely chopped
¼cupparsley, finely chopped
90 g / 3 oz feta, crumbled (or more!)
2handfuls rocket / arugula lettuce(optional - bed for salad)
Lemon Dressing:
2tsplemon zest
2tbsplemon juice
1/3 cup / 85 mlextra virgin olive oil
1tspDijon mustard
1garlic clove, minced
1tspsugar, optional
½tspsalt + black pepper
Instructions
Place Lentil ingredients in a large saucepan over high heat. Bring to simmer then turn down to medium low. Cook for 20 minutes for firm (I like this) or 25 minutes for soft. DO NOT overcook and make it mushy!
Drain in a colander, pick out celery etc. Rinse VERY quickly just to remove any grit coating the lentils (don't want to rinse away flavour!). Set aside.
Place Dressing ingredients in a jar, shake well.
Place lentils, tomato, cucumber, onion, coriander, parsley and some of the feta in a large bowl. Pour over most of the Dressing, then toss.
Place rocket lettuce on a serving platter. Pile salad on top. Drizzle over remaining Dressing and crumble over feta. Serve! (I like serving with pita bread to stuff it in)
Notes
1. This recipe can be made with any lentils except I don't recommend red (gets too mushy, is good for curries and soups). My favourite is green because of the size and because it holds its shape well when cooked, making it perfect for salads. Adjust cook time to lentil type - start checking for doneness at 20 minutes.CANNED LENTILS: Use 2 cans, drain and rinse, the microwave briefly until warmed through. Pour over some of the dressing (hot lentils soak up flavour better), stir then leave to marinate for 1 hr+ (even overnight is fine). Then proceed with recipe (no need to make extra Dressing).2. Smashing Garlic: Makes it burst open to release flavour into the liquid but still easy to pick out. Just use the side of your knife and press down with your palm so the garlic bursts open, slip skin off and discard.3. You could also use 3 tomatoes but make sure you deseed them i.e. scrape out and discard watery centre, then dice. Otherwise it will make the salad soggy.4. STORAGE: A rare gem that truly keeps well for 2 days. Keep rocket lettuce separate because the Dressing will make it soggy. The less Dressing on the Lentil Salad = keeps better. It would keep for longer except I never keep raw garlic longer than 48 hours for safety reasons (can cause nasty food poisoning).5. OTHER WAYS to use this way of cooking lentils: a) Warm side with more stuff: Start by sautéing crushed garlic, finely chopped onion, carrot and celery with oil in a saucepan, then add Lentil ingredients per recipe (skip the garlic and celery) and cook. Drain then serve warm as a terrific side. b) Warm meal: Follow a) then return to pot, stir through handfuls of baby or chopped spinach, top with fried runny yolk egg and burrata/yoghurt (something wet or salty), drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with paprika and squeeze of lemon. c) Make a warm salad by adding roasted pumpkin or sweet potato. d) Make a thin omelette and put spoonfuls of this inside with other stuff like feta/cheese/tomatoes, roll up or fold omelette.6. Nutrition per serving, assuming 4 servings.