Crushed Puy Lentils With Basil and Broccoli
A bold an healthy lentil dish. Lentils can often be boring and watery. By cooking first in stock and then frying with the spice and tahini mixture, you’ll ensure you these lentils are hearty and delicious. Feel free to substitute the puy lentils for green lentils, just make sure they are the smaller European variety.
When to eat
We recommend eating this dish from February to April.
Crushed Puy Lentils With Basil and Broccoli
A bold and healthy lentil dish. Lentils can often be boring and watery. By cooking first in stock and then frying with the spice and tahini mixture, you'll ensure you these lentils are hearty and delicious. Feel free to substitute the puy lentils for green lentils, just make sure they are the smaller European variety.
This meal is around 90% less polluting than the average UK meal.
Eating this recipe will save around 2.68 KG CO2e per person.
That’s equivalent to the emissions produced driving 22.05 KM in a modern car.
How do I calculate this?Ingredients
- 250 g Puy Lentils (or French green lentils)
- 2 Tablespoon Olive Oil
- 3 Clove Garlic
- 1 Small Red Onion
- 1 Teaspoon Ginger Powder
- 1 Teaspoon Chilli Flakes
- 1 Teaspoon Ground Cumin
- 2 Tablespoons Tahini
- 1 Lemon
- 250 g Purple Sprouting Broccoli
- 30 g Basil
- 500 ml Vegetable Stock
Instructions
- First cook the puy lentils. Place the lentils in a medium pan and pour over the stock. Bring to the boil and simmer with the lid on for around 20 minutes, or until the lentils are soft.
- Crush the garlic cloves into a fine paste and grate the red onion. Add both to a shallow pan and fry over a low heat. Cook for 3 – 5 minutes until the onion is soft and then add the cumin, ginger and chilli flakes and fry for a further minute. Add the tahini and mix well to combine the spices in the pan. Tip in the lentils, season with salt and pepper, and increase the heat. Fry for 5 – 10 minutes, gently crushing the lentils every few minutes with a wooden spoon.
- When the lentils have about 5 minutes left, prepare the broccoli. Roughly slice the broccoli into 1 cm long pieces and add toss into a pan of boiling salted water. Boil for 2 – 3 minutes or until the broccoli is soft but still retains some bite.
- Drain the broccoli and stir into the lentils. Chop the basil and scatter over the top of the dish. Serve immediately.
2 Comments
Annie
March 6, 2022 at 9:39 pm
I tried this last night and while it is unappealing in appearance, the taste is delicious. We can’t buy purple sprouting in rural NZ, so I used standard broccoli cut into 1cm slices. I had leftovers for breakfast and it tasted even better.
Next time, I think I would make it more of a sauce and eat it with polenta, which would have a better nutrition profile, and look more appealing on the plate. However, I highly recommend it for a quick and delicious meal, and also a great way of using up broccoli that is just starting to turn yellow!
hugo
March 8, 2022 at 9:39 am
Great tips Annie!