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Friday, April 16, 2010

Green Lentil Salad


I grew up eating a lot of lentils and I probably ate every type of lentil dish there is.  Later on when I got to know the Indian dal I loved it.  It was a little bit different than the dal type of dish my grandmother used to make, but it was just a little bit more spicy.  My favorite lentil dish is the red lentil soup that my mother makes, however, I will put that recipe here some other time.  The green lentil salad is something I have tried in a restaurant and I have made it probably only once before this time.  Lentils are very nutritious and very healthy legumes and I always want to cook more lentil dishes for my family but I always end up making the soup.  I had some sun dried tomatoes in my kitchen, which inspired me to make this salad.  It's a very light salad but it's filling.  Perfect for spring and summer meals. 
I will for sure put more lentil recipes here in the future because I just bought loads of lentils again.


200-300 g green lentils
1 spring onion - chopped
1/2 leek - chopped
7-8 pieces of sun dried tomatoes - soaked in warm water for about 10 minutes (alternatively you can use sun dried tomatoes that are soaked in olive oil)
1 tablespoon of chives - chopped

For the dressing:
1 cup yogurt
2 tablespoons of olive oil
1 tablespoon of mayonnaise
1/2 tablespoon of lemon juice
salt and pepper to taste
chili powder - optional

Start with putting your lentils in a pan, cover them with water and bring to boil.  After they start boiling, reduce the heat and simmer the lentils for about 20-25 minutes.  If you overcook them, they will get mushy so check regularly.  After lentils are done, drain them and leave them to cool.  While you are waiting, chop the soaked sun dried tomatoes into small bits.  Start making your salad dressing by mixing all your ingredients listed above and set it aside.  When lentils are cool enough, mix them with the other ingredients and finally add your salad dressing.  You can garnish with some more chives.   The salad tastes even better if you leave it few hours in a cool place, so feel free to prepare it a little bit in advance.

2 comments:

  1. Saw your profile on food buzz. Glad I read your informative blog. Look forward to folowing you here. Cheers!

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  2. I love lentil salad!But I never prepared it this way. I usually cook the lentils in boiling water, and then add chopped spring onions and fresh parsley, and then adding vinegar, olive oil, salt and sumac as dressing, more like lentil 'piyaz'. I also put sometimes 2/3 green lentils and 1/3 kuskus to give it a different taste. I will try this at the earliest convenience and will let you know:)

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