Spices, Herbs, Spice ClassesI love lentils, particularly red lentils… yes, I could eat them for breakfast, lunch and dinner. However the downside to red lentils is that they don’t stay intact, so for this recipe I used Puy lentils. This type of lentil is used a lot in the Middle East. still a nice flavour, almost nutty and they absorb flavours from other ingredients nicely. This puy lentil salad serves 4-6 people but I doubled it.

  • 1 cup Puy lentils
  • 1 cup cooked and peeled broad beans
  • 1/2 cup chopped fresh leaf parsley
  • 1 red onion diced
  • 2 firm red tomatoes (get ones with heaps of flavour) desseded and flesh diced
  • 1/3 cup of chopped fresh coriander

For the dressing:

  • 2.5 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil (try and get cold pressed)
  • 2.5 Tablespoons of coconut oil
  • 2 Tablespoons of freshly squeezed lemon juice
  • 1 Tablespoon of runny honey
  • 1/2 teaspoon of ground cumin

Rinse lentils in cold water. Place in saucepan, cover with cold water and bring to boil. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer for 25-30 mins or until lentils are tender. Drain well and tip into a ceramic or glass bowl. Make dressing up and stir into lentils along with the parsley. Set aside to cool to room temperature. When ready to serve, stir in onion, tomatoes, broad beans and coriander. Season with salt and pepper.

Variation: Crumble in small amounts of a good quality feta or goats cheese.