Healthy Lentil Salad
This is currently my go-to salad, quick, easy to make and you feel good eating it. Easily my best vegan go to dish and non pulse lovers enjoy it too.
I served it to my neighbours last week with baked salmon and sliced roasted fillet tails. I walked through the door at 5:40pm and we sat down to dinner at 7pm. I made it as a side for our BBQ with friends on Sunday and it went beautifully with the chicken and lamb we served. The salad is delicious, looks impressive and best of all, it is healthy.
I love the natural flavours of the salad, as you may have dipping sauces or accompaniments to the meats a neutral salad is best. If you choose to eat the salad as a main, with no accompaniments, adding chopped garlic, a little ground cumin and chopped chillies, will add a lovely subtle flavour. You can also serve a dollop of Greek yoghurt it is a wonderful main course.
Packed lunch:
I have been eating the leftovers as my packed lunch. I do mentally pat myself on the back for not reaching for bread, my usual in a rush forgotten to eat, go to food.
Picnic/Pot Luck:
This is a great salad to pack as a picnic or to take to a pot luck or BBQ. The only tip will be to keep the herbs in an airtight container and add them just as you are about to serve the salad.
- 500g (2 cups) cooked Puy Lentils
- 1 red onion, sliced
- 2 courgettes, chopped into small cubes
- 1 aubergine, chopped into small cubes
- 100g pomegranate seeds from tub or fruit
- 85g toasted pine nuts or toasted flaked almonds
- small pack each of coriander, flat leaf parsley and mint, roughly chopped
- 3 tablespoons olive oil for softening and toasting
- Dressing
- 125ml olive oil
- 3 tablespoons lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon honey or maple syrup for vegans
- salt and pepper to taste
- In a frying pan toast the pine nuts in 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Stir the pinenuts constantly and remove them when they have been toasted.
- To the same pan add another tablespoon of olive oil and soften the onions, remove and set aside.
- Then separately soften the courgettes and then the aubergines.
- You may need to add more oil as you are softening the vegetables, do so sparingly, as you do not want a greasy salad.
- The vegetables should still be a little crunchy.
- Dressing:
- Place all the ingredients into a glass jar and shake until blended.
- Assembly:
- In a large bowl add all of the ingredients and stir the dressing through, just as you are about to serve.
- If you are travelling with the salad, dress the lentils and vegetables and stir in the chopped herbs just as you are about to serve the salad.
If you are serving this on a salad buffet at a BBQ it can easily feed 12-18 people.
I love using Merchant Gourmet Ready to Eat Puy Lentils.
Tinned lentils would work well, drain and rinse off the starch, but they are a little too mushy.
If you have the time cook your lentils from scratch. Once cooked run the lentils under cold water. This stops the cooking process and rinses out all the starch. Make sure you cook your lentils so that they still have a little bit to them.
Winter Salad
Serve the salad warm in winter, heat the lentils in the pan with the vegetables, add the dressing and serve.
Serving Suggestions:
Vegetarian Options:
Add grilled halloumi slices to the salad.
Crumble feta cheese over the salad.
Meat Lovers Options:
Serve with:
Thin slices of steak.
A baked or barbequed chicken breast.
An oven baked or barbequed salmon steak.
Grilled pork chop.
If you are travelling with the salad, dress the lentils and vegetables and stir in the chopped herbs just as you are about to serve the salad.
Delicious, my daughter took it to a friend for lunch on Tuesday (Woman’s Day in South Africa).
Thank you very much for your praise I am so glad you loved the salad as much as I do. Marissa