Warm lentil and radish salad
I am always trying to find new ways to incorporate seeds, legumes and grains into my diet as I have never really have a lot of them in my cooking repertoire.
For nearly a year my husband and I ate a strict Mediterranean diet due to a health scare that he had. When a heart specialist recommends a certain diet you don’t really tend to mess around.
It was a very delicious and satisfying way to eat and we had to focus a lot more on eating fish and using nuts, cheese and lean protein in place of red meat. My husband did not eat ice-cream for nearly a year, but once he eventually cracked that first bowl of ice-y creaminess again, it was all over.
Years later I am still on that learning curve of eating more vegetables and adding in legumes, beans and seeds. This lentil recipe is a lovely way to do just that and came about courtesy of some garden fresh radishes from a friend. I also used the remaining radishes to make a mixed vegetable pickle with bay leaves, garlic and peppercorns. This was a direct copy of a delicious jar of pickles I bought from an Italian couple at the Park Orchards markets. Perfect on rice, pasta or in salads it would even lend a lovely tangy crunch to salads.
When the veggie patch gifts you such delicious crunchy morsels, you have to make the most of it.
The star of this salad, apart from the radish itself, is the lovely dressing with maple syrup and tamari.
Enjoy.
- 2 red radishes, trimmed and thinly-sliced
- 10 cherry tomatoes, halved
- 1 tablespoon tamari
- 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
- Dash of maple syrup
- ¼ teaspoon sea salt, or more to taste
- 1 cup puy/ green lentils, cooked
- 2-3 cups of water
- Salt
- 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- ½ a red onion, finely diced
- 1 stick of celery
- In a medium saucepan, cover the lentils with 2 inches of water and bring to a boil. Add ½ teaspoon of salt. Simmer the lentils over low heat, stirring occasionally, until tender, about 25 minutes. Drain and transfer to a bowl.
- Heat the olive oil in the saucepan.
- Add the red onion and cook over mild-moderate heat until softened, about 5 minutes. Stir in chopped celery and cook gently for another two minutes. Add the cooked lentils and remove from the heat.
- Finely slice your radishes and cut your cherry tomatoes in half and add the to the lentils.
- Mix your tamari, mustard and maple syrup to make a dressing and pour this over your lentil salad. Mix well and season to taste.
Happy Eating.
Dani xx
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