What are your favourite lentil recipes?

[MrsAvocet]

Just after some inspiration for family meals. I have quite a lot of lentils and other pulses in as I am very keen on making my own soups. I also do a lentil "shepherds pie" regularly and sometimes lentil loaf but can anyone suggest any more imaginative lentil based meals? To complicate matters a bit they can't include any form of dairy, eggs, nuts, sesame or fish. Please share if you have any great recipes. Thank you.

This is one of my favourite recipes, I usually make it with red lentils:
thehappyfoodie.co.uk/recipes/meera-sodhas-moong-dal
Meera's cook book Fresh India is amazing!

I like to use lentils in spag bol too, it's delicious 🙂

Thank you. That sounds tasty. We don't often have Indian food so I don't have a wide range of spices but I think I have all those ingredients except fresh chillies. I have some of that Lazy Chilli in a jar though so I could use that. Presumably it would be ok to replace the butter with olive oil?

This curried red lentil soup: www.taste.com.au/recipes/curried-red-lentil-soup/e8c35c50-fbbf-446e-81fa-3b13a1be8544

I've made it countless times. It's cheap, simple, quick, healthy and doesn't need any blending. It also freezes well so I often make batches for work lunches in winter.

Lentil ragu - I use a BBC Good Food recipe
Lentil meatballs - Happy Foodie and the Hairy Bikers both have good recipes.
Lentil burgers - I use various recipes depending on what I’ve got that needs using up!

I made lentil sausage roll the other day.

Cook off onions, courgette, any other veg diced small. Add some garlic towards the end.
Cook lentils with a bay leaf and stock.
Combine the 2. Add bread crumbs, seasoning of your choice. The mixture should be mould able.
Using puff parry, wrap the lentil mix in the pastry in sausage roll shapes. Cook!

You say no fish but didn't say all veggie so I assume meat is ok?

We like them with sausages and crusty bread: www.telegraph.co.uk/recipes/0/sausages-lentils-herb-relish-recipe/

I also like this - cook once, eat twice, Italian style: www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2014/oct/24/braised-lentil-recipes-roman-minestra-rachel-roddy-cook-residency

This cauliflower and coconut curry is awesome. I like using a small cauliflower with other veggies (courgette, red pepper, etc). www.bbcgoodfood.com/user/659748/recipe/cauliflower-and-coconut-curry

A recipe I found on here, we love it:

• brown 8 sausages in large casserole
• add large sliced onion, 2 handfuls green lentils, a large glass red wine and sprinkle of thyme
• pour over stock to cover all
• cook for at least 1 hour until juices thickened with lentils.
• serve crusty or garlic bread

Stuckpot rice

This is my new favourite dal

thehappyfoodie.co.uk/recipes/aubergine-dal-with-crispy-cauliflower-green-chutney-dosa-and-a-crunchy-salad

Thank you everyone.
I will give some of those a try. I'm just getting a bit bored of my usual recipes.

That link looks dodgy Lorreanne.

There’s a recepie for mushroom and lentil wellington on holy cow vegan that is great. My carnivorous lodger ate half of one!

Hey @MrsAvocet I usually add a little butter at the end, it makes a difference to the flavour but if you prefer olive oil just check your seasoning. The lazy chilli is good! If I don't have fresh I'll often used dried flakes. I also sometimes throw in some frozen peas or tofu. Hope you like it 🙂

I'd use plenty of butter given the choice ClaraTA but unfortunately my son is allergic to all dairy products, so its either oil or I could try dairy free spread. We always have a meat free day on Friday so I think I will give this recipe a try this week. Looking forward to trying all the ideas everyone has suggested.

@MrsAvocet of course, sorry you did mention that! I've made it with Flora buttery (vegan) before and that works very well too.

Greek lentil soup!

Like this www.olivetomato.com/greek-lentil-soup-fakes/

I did the dal ClaraTA suggested tonight and it was lovely. Even my generally quite faddy teenager ate it. I used green lentils and added some red pepper chunks as I had one that needed eating up - worked well. I will definitely try some of the other suggestions in the coming weeks. Thanks everyone.

Ah really glad you liked it! 🙂

Red lentil sauce - my mum is veggie so we used this for years as a replacement for bolognese

Fry one chopped large onion gently in a bit of oil till soft. Add garlic (2-3 cloves, crushed). Once softened & garlic fragrant, add 225g dried red lentils, tin of chopped tomatoes, splash of red wine, 1/2tsp cinnamon, 1/2tsp oregano or mixed herbs. Fill tomato tin with water & add, then roughly half fill & add again (so 1.5 tins water). Leave to simmer on low temperature. Stir frequently - don’t let it stick on the bottom. Once thickened and lentils soft, add salt and pepper to taste.

Works really well in lasagne or over pasta. This recipe makes about 4 portions :)

Ooh great thread thank you! I'm vegan and need some inspiration

Puy lentils cooked and with a mustardy vinaigrette and diced red onion and fresh chopped parsley is delicious.

Anna Jones’ sweet potato and coconut Dahl is amazing hotcooking.co.uk/recipes/anna-jones-sweet-potato-dhal