Lentils Shine in a Dish Called Mujadara

I like lentils. Liking lentils in the first place, may - or may not - preclude some from liking this dish. 

I had heard of Mujadara. I just never researched it to find out what, exactly, it was. I am not at all sure how or why I missed out on this meal, but I surely do wish I'd found out sooner, because it is one amazingly flavored dish. 

Mujadara

Mujadara is a Lebanese / Middle Eastern concoction of lentils and rice. Rice can be substituted with bulghur. Lentils and rice are pretty bland fare, on their own. They need a lot of help in the flavor department. I believe what interested me the most when reading the recipes online - particularly the ones written by Lebanese or other Middle Eastern bloggers - is the near lack of any flavorings beyond a little cumin - and a whole boatload of onions. These onions are sauteed until very, very dark; far darker than the norm. These deeply caramelized, nigh on to burnt (but not quite) onions are what provide the absolutely heavenly flavor to the otherwise not too exciting lentils and rice. 

Every cook has their own way of making a thing. Every cook has their own reasoning as to why it should be that way. I have absolutely no argument on method, and depending on the outcome, I may change a method to suit my own lifestyle. And at my age, I look for the simplest way, the fewest steps, the least cleanup possible. I have ranted on that subject here before, so I won't go into it again. But, when it requires three or four different pots or skillets to make one meal, I look immediately  to how that can be simplified. 

Maureen's Cookbook

Maureen Abood, a Lebanese-American lady I have been following for years on her blog, Facebook and with her cookbook called "Rose Water and Orange Blossoms," has recipes amazingly easy to understand. When dealing with an unknown culture, it helps to have someone both knowledgeable in the foods themselves, but also articulate enough to translate that into descriptions that clarify to a person not of that culture. I have some go-to Indian blogs that have fantastic recipes. Some though, assume that one knows what one is doing and so the recipes require some trial and error. And errors happen way too easily, when one "assumes!"

Ultimately, Maureen's recipe is the one that gave me the clearest idea of the whys and the wherefores of making Mujadara, though I had read about 8 recipes online and had already scribbled down two versions of what I thought I would do. 

What is Mujadara?

As mentioned above, Mujadara is a dish of lentils and rice (or bulghur), made with a surfeit of deep, dark, caramelized onions. The onions completely make this dish. Do not stint on the onions. In fact, in one blog, this admonition was followed by the fact that her relatives used twice the amount used in her recipe!

Whenever I research a recipe from a culture that is not mine, I try and stick to recipes from people of that culture. They would certainly know better what it is that makes a dish. Reading recipes from other sources not of the culture, where a slew of additional flavors are added in, either as enhancement or compensation, well, this is, IMHO, trying to change the culture, and there I try instead to remain a purist. 

In all the recipes written by a Middle Eastern (by background and culture, no matter where they live), there were - besides salt and water - just 5 main ingredients: lentils, rice (or bulghur), lots of onions, oil for sauteeing the onions (usually olive oil) and cumin. Period. Amounts may vary. Methods may vary. Ingredients did not vary. 

👀I did opt to parboil the lentils in a separate pan, for the one simple reason that it is best not to salt the lentils while they cook, as this toughens their skins and makes a longer cooking time. 

Ultimately, my Mujadara, though it takes a little while to make, was so very worthwhile. The flavors were sublime. My husband will tolerate lentils, if in the right application. He loved this dish nearly as much as I. I heartily recommend it to anyone. Vegetarians will love it for its complete protein. It is great accompanied by a simple salad, or tomatoes, or a tomato and cucumber salad. Of course, meat to accompany is fine. A dollop of Greek yogurt, or as I used, tzatziki, is also a great flavor combo. 

Mujadara

Mujadara

Serves 8 as a side dish

1 cup brown lentils

1 cup long grain or basmati rice

4 cups water, divided

4 medium onions, divided (more, if desired)

2 - 4 tablespoons olive oil

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds

Begin with the onions, as these take time. Chop three of the onions. Heat a goodly sized skillet over medium to medium low heat. Add in half the olive oil to heat and then the chopped onions. Stirring often, saute the onions until they are well past simple caramelization, and on into the realm of almost burnt. Sprinkle the salt over the onions while cooking as this helps draw moisture. The darker the onions, the better the flavors in the dish. Towards the end of cooking, add in the  cumin.

Dark Sauteed Onions for Garnish

Once the onions are almost ready, place 2 cups of the water and the lentils into a medium saucepan. Cover and cook for about 12 to 15 minutes. The lentils are just parboiled at this time. Add the contents of the pot, with any liquids remaining, to the onions in the large skillet. Add in the remaining 2 cups of water and the rice. Stir, bring to boil and lower to a simmer. Time for approximately 20 minutes. Leave the lid on and remove the skillet from the heat. Let steam for an additional 10 or 15 minutes if there is time. 

While the lentils and rice cook, heat another, smaller skillet and add the remaining olive oil. Cut the last onion into long slivers or rings and again, saute these until very deep dark in color. Once they are dark enough, pour them out onto paper toweling to absorb excess oil, and to crisp up a bit. Once the Mujadara is ready to serve, use these onions to garnish the dish.

Serve with a salad, a Shirazi salad (cucumber, tomato and onion), sliced tomatoes, a dollop of labneh, plain Greek yogurt, or tzatziki, some mint sprigs or cilantro, and this meal is fit for a king.

My passion is teaching people how to create a harmony of flavors with their cooking, and passing along my love and joy of food, both simple or exotic, plain or fancy. I continue my journey in ethnic and domestic cuisines, continuing my journey to explore diverse culinary experiences and hopefully to start you on a journey of your own. Join me also at A Harmony of Flavors on Facebook, and Pinterest.

A Meatloaf Extraordinaire

I have made so many really great meals lately, and haven't gotten them posted here. One of these was a meatloaf of all things. I am not over fond of meatloaf. Actually, I used to prefer it far more as cold leftovers on a meatloaf sandwich than hot the day it was made. 

One of my "beefs" (excuse the pun) about most meatloaves I have eaten elsewhere (not my own) is that raw onion goes in it, and even after the meatloaf is baked through, the onion is still raw enough to crunch, and so my stomach hurts for hours after. To remedy this, I always sauté my onion and garlic until they are truly caramelized and more flavorful. Problem solved. And complexity of flavor added!
 

Beef & Lentil Meatloaf Extraordinaire

There is a lot more to making a meatloaf tasty though, than just onion. Of late, I have been adding in a goodly amount of either shredded Parmesan or Romano cheese, as I do for meatballs as well. Most often I make meatballs with ground beef, and sometimes I add sausage. Not too long ago, I made some pork sausage meatballs, mixed half & half with cooked brown lentils, both to add fiber and to stretch the recipe. They were amazing! You can't really tell there are lentils (if you don't look closely) in the meatballs, and the other ingredients make the recipe taste delicious. I was relating this to my son, who is looking to improve his diet, and talking of adding lentils to meat dishes such as meatballs (or burgers or meatloaf), and my husband overheard the conversation. Later, he requested that I make something like that, with lentils added. I told him he had already been served this kind of mixture in past, quite a few times already! But I opted to do this again, and this time with a meatloaf. 

I have been gravitating more and more, when making meatloaves and meatballs, to some of the same ingredients, since they seem to really up the flavor factor by orders of magnitude. Some of these ingredients are as mentioned, such as a good amount of Parmesan or Romano cheese, and the sauteed, caramelized onions. I have at times added things like applesauce into the mix, and/or barbecue sauce. Sometimes I have switched out the Parmesan or Romano cheese for Gorgonzola (recipe here), which is exceptional! Sometimes I use quick cooking oatmeal as a binder, but I have used psyllium husks, flax and other things on occasion. 

So with no real plan in mind, I set about making a meatloaf with lentils. I cooked 1 cup of brown lentils for about 30 minutes, then drained and lightly mashed them, leaving a lot of them whole. I started adding things in and baked the meatloaves, which smelled heavenly. And my, these were just amazingly flavorful. Do not let the photos fool you into thinking this is another bland meatloaf. My husband loved them. And I will be making them again. And again! 

Beef & Lentil Meatloaf Extraordinaire 

Beef & Lentil Meatloaf Extraordinaire

Makes two (4 x 8-inch) meat loaves

1 cup brown lentils
3 cups water for cooking lentils
1 pound lean ground beef (or combination of beef and sausage meat) 
1 - 2 tablespoons olive oil, or oil of choice
1 onion, chopped
2 - 4 cloves fresh garlic, minced
4 large eggs 
½ cup barbecue sauce
1 cup freshly shredded Parmesan cheese
1 cup 1-minute oats
½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1½  - 2 teaspoons salt as desired
1½ teaspoons fresh thyme leaves, lightly minced

Set the lentils and water into a medium-large saucepan and bring to boil. Reduce to a simmer, cover and cook for about 30 minutes, until the lentils are tender. Drain, then allow to cool slightly. Mash with a potato masher, just to break up some of the lentils. Some should remain whole. Do not puree. You want texture.

Meanwhile, heat a skillet and add in the oil and the onions. Saute the onions, stirring often, until they are turning a caramel color. Add in the minced garlic and continue to cook, stirring, for about 3 more minutes. 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place the ground beef in an large bowl, then add in the sauteed onion and garlic and all the remaining ingredients, including the cooked lentils. Thoroughly combine the mixture. Spray two loaf pans with cooking spray and divide the mixture between the pans evenly. Pat into a smooth rectangle and bake for 50 to 60 minutes, or until internal temperature is at least 150 degrees. Wonderful served with mashed potatoes and green vegetable of choice.


My passion is teaching people how to create a harmony of flavors with their cooking, and passing along my love and joy of food, both simple or exotic, plain or fancy. I continue my journey in ethnic and domestic cuisines, continuing my journey to explore diverse culinary experiences and hopefully to start you on a journey of your own. Join me also at A Harmony of Flavors on Facebook, and Pinterest.

Sambar Finally on My Menu

I love Indian food and flavors. I've been making Indian food for a long time now, but mostly northern Indian style, which is all I knew from restaurants. It has been years and years since I found out about idli, a south Indian breakfast / snack food, and more recently, Sambar and other lentil dishes.

Sambar

First, I need to elaborate on Idli, since this is where all this discovery started. When it comes to south Indian cuisine, lentils are on the menu most of the time. The lentil dishes are invariably very soupy, though they are not called "soup." Many places term these thinned soups as "gravy," which probably sums up how they are used. For me, it still seems like soup! These lentil soups are served often with something called Idli, and often at breakfast.

I discovered idli some many years ago, when searching for something to do with Urad Dal, which I bought at an Indian grocery, then never used. It so happens that one of the uses for Urad dal (also Urid dal) is in making idli. So what is Idli?

Sambar with Idli

Idli are little puffy, pillow shaped, steamed dumpling-like creations. They are generally made with rice and urad dal, but sometimes other types of rice are used and sometimes millet is also used, millet being a common Indian staple. Idli are served alongside one of these lentil dishes, which are generally made very hot-spicy, particularly in Tamil Nadu. Idli, being very bland, would pair very nicely with such a spicy dish. Once the idli batter is used, if there is any left, it is advised to make Dosas with the leftovers, but that is yet another story.

I learned about idli at least 8 years ago, and while I wanted to make them, just never got around to it. I also had a little anxiety over making them, since it is said they can be tricky. I had no idli mold, so I would have to improvise. And on and on went my excuses why I couldn't make them. Then last September when I visited my son and his significant other in Seattle, I bought an idli mold. I also ate in an Indian restaurant out there that had Dosas on the menu, and so I tried that - and Sambar was served alongside! It is one of the common accompaniments to idli or dosa. I figured that I had to make Sambar, so I could have something to eat with the idli I wanted to make.

Finally we get to the Sambar

I knew about red lentils (masoor), but more recently found out about many others, such as black gram (skinned and split and called urad dal), pigeon peas  (skinned and split and called toor dal; also tuvar dal or archar dal), brown chickpeas (split and skinned and called Bengal gram, Desi chickpeas or kala channa), and many others. Of all of these, Toor dal is one of my favorites. And, it happens to be one of the most common lentils used in making Sambar, also spelled Sambhar. Yippee!
 

Sambar Powder

Sambar is easy enough to make, and is absolutely amazingly good. I have to say, I was not highly impressed with the little bowls of sambar served with my mammoth dosa in Redmond, WA, but making it myself, I had opportunity to study many recipes and see what similarities and differences they contained. One of the first things I noted was that most called for Sambar Powder, so that was the first thing to make. Sambar Powder is made using a couple of types of lentils, browned first in a dry skillet, then ground with other toasted spices. I put together the amounts that sounded good to me, and here is my recipe:

Sambar Powder Spices

Sambar Powder

Makes about ½ cup 

2 tablespoons dried coconut shreds
2 tablespoons channa dal (split, peeled Bengal gram/Desi chickpeas)
1 tablespoon urad dal (black gram, split, peeled)
1 tablespoon coriander seeds
2 teaspoons black peppercorns
1 teaspoon cumin seed
½ teaspoon fenugreek seeds
10 - 12 fresh curry leaves
3 dried red chilies, or more, to taste
½ teaspoon asafoetida powder (unless pure, then use just a pinch)

Heat a dry skillet over medium heat and toast the coconut until nicely golden, then turn out to a plate to cool. Repeat with the channa dal until golden and fragrant, then the urad dal until golden. Turn these out to the plate with the coconut, to cool. Repeat this process separately for the coriander, peppercorns, cumin and fenugreek, turning each out to the plate to cool before proceeding with the next. Toast the curry leaves until dried and crisp, then add to the plate. Toast the dried chilies (I first broke them into pieces and removed most of the seeds - your choice), then turn them out to the plate. Toast the asafoetida powder (which usually comes diluted with rice flour or other starches) until fragrant, then add to the plate.

Once all the spices are cooled, grind them to a fine powder in a spice grinder or coffee grinder used only for spices. Store in a glass jar with tight fitting lid in a cool, dry, dark place.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Once the Sambar Powder is made, the Sambar can be made. Making the Sambar is a 3-part recipe, not counting the making of the Sambar Powder. The lentils will need to be cooked until mushy, then pureed. The vegetables will cook in a tamarind based liquid, and an addition of spices and onion are fried towards the end, called "tempering," which simply means "adding flavor." The tamarind used for the recipe can be pre-packaged and diluted or made up from scratch. I have tamarind pods (available at our local grocery, miracle of miracles!) and so peeled the outer shells off and soaked the pulp and seeds, then pressed out the seeds and strained the fruit through a strainer, pressing out as much of the solids as will pass through the strainer while pressing with a spoon. Doing this will amount to a fourth step.

Three-Part Recipe: Lentils - Vegetables - Tempering

Making Sambar calls for vegetables, and there is a list of possible vegetables to use, such as carrot, bell pepper, eggplant, tomato, squash, okra (also called "ladyfingers"), potatoes, green beans, onions, zucchini,  and others; whatever you have on hand. Indian recipes also generally mention "drumsticks" and something called "bottle gourd (lauki)," not available in my part of the world. Any of these can be used, or just one if preferred. They can be changed out to use what is on hand. This recipe is just a guideline for the general flavors. I have small eggplants growing and was hoping there would be some ripe for use, but sadly no. While onion is generally mentioned as part of the vegetables, I chose to use shallot, and used it in the "tempering" step instead of cooking with the other vegetables.

Sambar

Serves about 6 or 8, depending on portion size

Sambar

LENTILS:
¾ cup toor dal (tuvar/ardhar)
4 cups water
1 teaspoon turmeric

VEGETABLES:
1 cup tamarind puree (from 2 tamarind pods)
½ cup carrot, in matchsticks
1 tomato, chopped
1 cup squash, peeled, cubed
½ green bell pepper, sliced thinly
2 tablespoons Sambar Powder, or to taste

TEMPERING:
2 teaspoons coconut oil
1 teaspoon Panch Phoron
8 - 10 fresh curry leaves
½ teaspoon asafoetida (hing)
1 medium shallot (or small onion), sliced
3 cloves garlic, sliced

If making your own tamarind puree, peel 2 - 3 tamarind pods, pull off long veins and set to soak in 1 cup hot water for at least ½ hour. Once soft, squeeze out the seeds and discard, breaking up the fibrous fruit. Pass this softened fruit through a strainer, pressing through with the back of a spoon. Pour the puree into a saucepan.

Place the lentils into a bowl and wash repeatedly until the water comes out almost clear. Drain and place into a saucepan with the water and turmeric and bring to boil. Lower heat and simmer for about 45 minutes, until softened and mushy. Puree the lentils until smooth.

Add the vegetables to the saucepan with the tamarind puree and cook until softened. Add in the Sambar Powder at the end of cooking time. Add the vegetables to the pureed lentils with about 1 teaspoon salt.

For the "tempering," heat the coconut oil in a skillet and once hot, add the Panch Phoron until it pops and crackles. Add in the curry leaves and stir while they crackle and release their aroma. Add the asafoetida until it releases a lovely oniony aroma and then add in the shallot and garlic. Stir, sauteeing until the shallot and garlic are golden, then pour this mixture into the lentils and vegetables. Garnish the Sambar with cilantro leaves or fresh curry leaves and serve with idli or dosas (though it is an excellent soup all on its own, or with rice).



My passion is teaching people how to create a harmony of flavors with their cooking, and passing along my love and joy of food, both simple or exotic, plain or fancy. I continue my journey in ethnic and domestic cuisines, continuing my journey to explore diverse culinary experiences and hopefully to start you on a journey of your own. Join me also at A Harmony of Flavors on Facebook, and Pinterest.

Delicious Meatball Recipe

Ever since my husband and I started on a healthier eating regimen last year, I have looked for any way to add fiber into our diet, along with healthy carbs. Vegetables are always there in some way, and fruits, to some degree. But I have gotten into lentils and other dal-types in a big way, always adding a handful to soups, if they aren't made as a stand-alone part of a meal. Yesterday, I was thinking about meatballs. I was reading one of Mary Berry's cookbooks yesterday. (My husband got me FOUR cookbooks by Mary Berry and FOUR cookbooks by Paul Hollywood, because I was animatedly telling him about all the things I learned watching The Great British Baking Show! Making me remember the quote from Sabrina: 

"More isn't always better, Linus. Sometimes it's just more." 😬

Mary had a recipe for Sausage Meatballs. I had a package of bulk sausage meat (intended for another recipe, but I hadn't gotten there yet), and thought about it.
 

Sausage & Lentil Meatballs with Spaghetti and Sauce

I thought for a while, and then recalled that I had just been saying I needed to get back to more lentil type things in our diet, since we've been a bit lax on the regimen since the holidays. And I wondered to myself how it would turn out to use cooked and mashed lentils mixed with the sausage meat? Interestingly, this was one idea that most online searches did not come up with. There were "meatballs" made vegetarian, using only lentils. That was not my plan though, so my main concern was how would the meatballs cook up, if mixed with lentils. So I just forged ahead and made them, adding in things here and there that I felt would enhance flavor. I was also concerned about the cooking part. 

I have always liked forming my meatballs and dropping them into boiling, salted water, just long enough that they start to float a bit. Then I take them out of the water and either fry them or bake them, but in this way, their round shape holds true. I never like to try and fry or bake raw meatballs right off the bat, because they end up with flat sides here and there. Would these half-lentil meatballs hold up in the boiling water?

Why yes, in fact they would. 

Sausage & Lentil Meatballs with Spaghetti and Sauce

This was refreshing and made me feel much better about all of it. I went on to bake them afterwards, to finish cooking and give them some color. Since I don't care for the mess of making meatballs generally, I always try to make large batches, so I can freeze them until needed. Since I weighed the finished mixture and had 2½ pounds of it, this was wonderful news. Now I have some spare bags of meatballs in the freezer for another day.

In the meantime, how did they come out? 

Well, except for the fact that I totally wasn't thinking about the fact that pork sausage comes seasoned - with salt - I had added salt enough for the whole mixture. They were salty! I compensated by not adding much salt to the tomato sauce and no salt at all to the pasta cooking water. This way it worked. But for the recipe I am placing here, don't worry, that will be no problem. I also used some mushroom powder in the meatballs. I have dried shiitakes, and I place a few into a spice grinder and pulverize them to a fine powder, discarding any large bits (read stems) that will not process down. I keep some of this powder on hand for things that might benefit from a flavor boost, like gravy, for example. If you do not have mushroom powder, no problem, just leave it out. I had it. I used it.

To continue with the fiber and better carbs theme, I made my own spaghetti with my pasta machine. I used whole Kamut grain, ground fine in my electric grain grinder, so it is the whole grain fiber goodness, and Kamut is particularly "blonde" in color, so the pasta comes out the prettiest golden color, with no off flavors one expects from whole grain wheat, even though it is, albeit an ancient form of it. 

Sausage & Lentil Meatballs

Sausage & Lentil Meatballs just baked

Made 54 one-tablespoon sized meatballs

1 cup brown lentils
2½ cups water for cooking lentils
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced 
1 pound pork sausage meat
1 cup shredded Parmesan or Romano cheese
2 large eggs
1 tablespoon mushroom powder, optional

2 teaspoons dried sage leaves, crumbled
1 teaspoon fennel seeds, crushed

1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Place the lentils and water into a saucepan and bring to boil. Reduce to a simmer, cover and cook for about 30 to 35 minutes, until the lentils are completely soft. Once soft, drain off any water remaining and allow them to dry out a bit before mashing. I used a potato masher. Set aside to cool

In a skillet heated over very low heat, cook the onions with ½-teaspoon of the salt in the olive oil for about 30 to 40 minutes, stirring occasionally. They will turn golden very slowly and become very sweet. Add in the minced garlic and cook slowly for a few minutes more, just to cook out the raw taste. Set aside to cool.

Meanwhile, place in a mixing bowl the sausage meat with the shredded cheese, eggs, mushroom powder, fennel, sage and remaining ½-teaspoon salt. Add in the cooled mashed lentils and the onion and garlic mixture. Mix well with spoon or (preferably) hands to distribute the ingredients evenly. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Set a pot of water to boil. Scoop out meatballs with a tablespoon measure and form into neat balls. Gently drop about 10 at a time into the boiling water, allowing them to form up. They will not float completely, but just begin bobbing a bit. Remove them to a rimmed baking sheet. Repeat with the remainder of the mixture. Once all the meatballs are on the baking sheet, bake them in the preheated oven for 12 to 15 minutes, until lightly browned. 

Use the meatballs in your favorite recipe. If you choose to freeze for later, place the cooled meatballs in a freezer zip-top bag and use within 4 months. 


My passion is teaching people how to create a harmony of flavors with their cooking, and passing along my love and joy of food, both simple or exotic, plain or fancy. I continue my journey in ethnic and domestic cuisines, continuing my journey to explore diverse culinary experiences and hopefully to start you on a journey of your own. Join me also at A Harmony of Flavors on Facebook, and Pinterest.

Another Use for Lentils

A week or so ago, I came across a recipe while perusing Facebook. I clicked on the link and found it to sound quite interesting. I love lentils, with their earthy flavor and texture. The fact that the recipe also called for walnuts just made it all that much better. The recipe itself came from Vegetarian Times, and I printed it off to try it out. 

Lentil, Arugula and Walnut Side Dish

Baby Arugula

We were having pork chops for dinner that day, and since my husband has not seemed to want to eat any dish with lentils as the main ingredient, along with the fact that he hates walnuts made me figure this side would be just for me alone. The recipe as it was written was to be used as a spread, meant for baguette slices, crostini or pita breads. To me, it sounded like those options would be lovely, but I was thinking more on the lines of a side dish. I happened to have lentils, walnuts and even baby arugula, so I went for it.  

Brown Lentils

I changed a few things as I went along, mostly in the method. The recipe called for "3 tablespoons vegetable broth", which I found slightly ludicrous. I added a little more salt, instead. My tolerance for cumin is low. While the amounts called for in the recipe were ¼ teaspoon of ground cumin, and ⅛ teaspoon ground coriander, both of which are quite tiny amounts - still, I switched the amounts, instead using ¼ teaspoon coriander and ⅛ teaspoon cumin. I always prefer to use whole spices, so this is another place where I changed the instructions. I also added ¼ teaspoon of Aleppo pepper. I have not had much experience using Aleppo pepper so far, and my knowledge of amounts to use is minimal. I found that ¼ teaspoon was not even detectable, so next time I will use ½ teaspoon. 

In all, I feel I streamlined the recipe quite a bit, using the food processor to do all the work outside of cooking the lentils. I really love the recipe. I love all the ingredients, so that is a plus. If you choose to use this on bread slices as an appetizer portion, please feel free. It was wonderful as a side dish. Obviously, the recipe is vegetarian and gluten free, so it fits with most diets. If you wish to see the original recipe at Vegetarian Times, please click on the link above in the first paragraph. This is what I did:

Lentil, Arugula and Walnut Side Dish

Lentil, Arugula and Walnut Side Dish

Serves 3 - 4

¾ cup lentils
1½ cups water
¼ cup shelled walnuts
1 teaspoon Fleur de Sel (or other coarser sea salt)
¼ teaspoon coriander seed (or ground)
¼ to ½ teaspoon Aleppo pepper, or other pepper
⅛ teaspoon cumin seed (or ground)
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 small clove garlic
3 cups baby arugula leaves

In a medium saucepan bring to boil the lentils and water, reduce heat and cover. Cook the lentils for about 35 to 40 minutes, until tender. If a small amount of water remains in the pan, drain and set this cooking liquid aside.

While the lentils cook, place the walnuts, salt, coriander seeds (or ground), cumin seeds (or ground) and Aleppo pepper in the bowl of a food processor and process until fine. Add in the garlic and olive oil and process until somewhat smooth, scraping sides as necessary. Once the mixture is fine, add in the arugula leaves and pulse to chop finely, but not puree. Add this mixture to the drained lentils in a bowl and toss to mix completely. If the mixture is too dry, add in some of the reserved cooking liquid, or water, if necessary. Serve tepid.

My passion is teaching people how to create a harmony of flavors with their cooking, and passing along my love and joy of food, both simple or exotic, plain or fancy. I continue my journey in ethnic and domestic cuisines, continuing my journey to explore diverse culinary experiences and hopefully to start you on a journey of your own. Join me also at A Harmony of Flavors on Facebook, and Pinterest.