Vegan Recipes: Lentils

Showing posts with label Lentils. Show all posts

Sunday, September 21, 2025

Brown lentil salad with onion weed

It is onion weed time again! Possibly one of the easiest plants to forage in New Zealand because it grows like a weed in many gardens and fields - so you can pick it and weed the garden at the same time.

Bulbs, stems and flowers are edible (discard the flowers with the hard seed though, a bit tough). Eat raw or cooked. Here I used it in a brown lentil salad, just cooked lentils, olive oil, lemon juice, salt and chopped raw onion weed. Quick, easy and delicious!

Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©

Saturday, July 17, 2021

Beautiful Brown Lentil Salad with Edible Flowers

Ingredients

500 g brown lentils
1 leaf bay
water and salt for boiling
extra virgin olive oil
lemon juice
salt to taste
Cucumber, half
Rocket salad
Edible flowers

A fresh lentil salad for summer! Soak the lentil overnight, then rinse well, add plenty of water, a bay leaf and a pinch of salt. Cook until 'al dente', or as soft as you like (but not mushy). Drain and briefly rinse under cold water. Place in a mixing bowl, add extra virgin olive oil, lemon juice, salt to taste, and half a cucumber chopped into small pieces. Mix well. Line a serving plate or large shallow bowl with rocket salad leaves, spoon the lentils on top, then sprinkle with petals and small edible flowers (I used borage, verbena, dianthus, calendula and cornflowers).

Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©

Tuesday, June 28, 2016

Lenticchie in umido - Brown lentils Italian style

I love a nice big pot of lentils, preferibly with some oven fresh crusty bread or a slice of polenta or creamy mushed potatoes. But also as pie fillers, for lasagne, or as a side dish, especially now that the weather is cold in New Zealand. For this recipes wash, soak and rinse 500 g of brown lentils, and then boil them in water with just a pinch of salt until cooked but not too soft or mushy.

In the meantime roughly chop one peeled carrot, one peeled onion, one peeled garlic clove and one stalk of celery with leaves and a few leaves of Italian parsley. This time I also added one green pepper because it was all alone in the fridge, but this is not necessary.

Sizzle the vegetables with two tbsp of olive oil until the onions are soft, then add 1 tbsp of tomato puree, and if you like a little smoked paprika or a chili. Stir and sizzle for one minute.

Add the lentils and their water and more salt to taste, but not too much as the water will reduce.

Cover and simmer until most of the liquid is gone and you are happy with the consistency of your lentils. Add salt and pepper to taste, plus a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil, and serve.

Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©

Tuesday, June 14, 2016

Roasted pumpkin medallions with pumpkin and sunflower seeds, Baked zucchini, Lemon basmati and lentils, Instant hummus, Almond dukka

Brrrrr it is getting cold! Time to prepare some filling, comforting and easy dinners :-).

Greg gave us a long pumpkin from his garden, I love it as you just need to slice it and peel it and you have a nice pumpkin medallion!

Roasted pumpkin medallions with pumpkin and sunflower seeds

Slice, peel and place onto an oven tray, drizzle with olive oil, salt, smoked paprika, garlic and crushed cumin seeds. Roast until tender. Toast a few pumpkin and sunflower seeds the oven and sprinkle on the pumpkin medallions before serving.

In addition I had the last zucchini in the garden, not quite a marrow but quite big, so I sliced it and baked it too:

Baked zucchini

Wash and slice lengthwise, drizzle with olive oil and salt, bake. That all!

To serve I added some basmati and lentils

Lemon basmati and lentils

Wash and cook the basmati with a small pinch of salt, open a can of lentils, drain from the water and pour the lentils on top of the rice during the last five minutes of cooking. Turn off the heat, add two tbsp of lemon juice and stir.

And to top some instant hummus with almond dukka:

Instant hummus

Open a can of chickpeas, drain and keep half of its water. Blend the chickpeas, water, two peeled garlic cloves and the juice of half a lemon until smooth. Add salt to taste and a little olive oil.

Almond dukka

Toast half a cup of almond, a few sunflower and pumpkin seeds and 1 tsp of cumin seeds. Add a little rock salt, a pinch of paprika or the spice of your choice. Grind and use to top the Hummus.

Well, that was easy, the kids loved it and got eaten in no time!

Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©

Tuesday, October 6, 2015

Polenta and Italian lentils - Polenta e lenticchie

This dish is vegan and gluten free, for the polenta recipe I just use polenta flour, water and salt and follow the packet instructions (real polenta takes about 45 minutes, the instant takes 5!). Usually I make soft polenta, thus adding a bit more water, but packet instructions tend to be for the 'harder' type, the one that you pour onto a wooden chopping board and then cut into slices. My nonna (Grandmother) used to make the hard one, and then she cut it with a string attached to the chopping board: no knife needed and even the youngest kids can do it!

For the lentils, wash the brown lentils with water and then soak for a little. Soaking is not really necessary but I like to do it so then I can give them another rinse and get rid off possible dirt that 'escaped' in the first wash. In the meantime sauté a finely chop carrot, celery stick with leaves and garlic (or onion) with two tbsp of olive oil, add the lentils and cover with vegetable stock. You can also add a tbsp of tomato paste, or some herbs, but this time I just added some chopped parsley at the end of cooking. Simmer the lentils as long as you can, stirring often and adding more water if necessary. Adjust with salt and pepper (and parsley) at the end, add another drizzle of extra virgin olive oil and save hot, with slices of hot polenta.

Nothing to do with the recipe.. just showing off my little pumpkins :-)

Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©

Thursday, November 22, 2012

Stuffed white cabbage leaves with lentils

This is a first. I like stuffed cabbage leaves but I always use this dark green curly cabbages (like Savoy) to make them, and I never used the round and firm white cabbages that are used to make coleslaw. But I happened to have a big white cabbage and the outer leaves were sort of green... I managed to remove 7 leaves before the cabbage become to compact to pull apart. Then I washed them and boiled them in salted water (which I later used to make vegetable broth for an Asian noodle soup - never waste!). I also boiled a few more cabbage leaves that got broken while I was trying to pull them away: they were going to be used in the filling.

For the filling I used some cooked cabbage leaves, a couple of slices of vegetarian bacon, chopped parsley, breadcrumbs, smoked salt, chili flakes, coriander seeds and smoked garlic. I mushed everything with my hands and divided the filling between the 7 leaves, and then I rolled them up.

I prepared a soffritto with a shallot, half a carrot, a celery stick, and some chopped parsley, all sautéed with a little olive oil.

I added the cabbage leaves and let them sauté on one side only for a few minutes.

Then I added one cup of tomato passata (Italian tomato sauce) and one cup of vegetable broth. I covered the pot with a lid and let the cabbage rolls simmer for 30 minutes.

After 30 minutes I added the content of a can of Italian brown lentils (their water included) and simmered everything for another 30 minutes.

Well, I just managed to taste one, the other six were two each for the kids and the babysitter (I was teaching that night), to be eaten with bruschetta (actually, just a baguette cut into slices and the brushed with olive oil, sprinkled with salt and baked until golden and crispy, the kids just love it!!). The result? I was pleasantly surprised: I am not a fan of white cabbage, but in this way it tasted great! Pity that I could not get more leaves out of it, maybe I need to boil the whole cabbage and then try to pull off the leaves... next time I will try. Or maybe I will just go back to use my usual Savoy cabbages! :-)

Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©

Sunday, April 29, 2012

Puy lentil, red onion and herb soup

Ingredients
300 g puy lentils
1 bay leaf
1 pinch of salt
1 red onion
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil (plus more for serving)
1 sprig sage
1 sprig rosemary
1.5 l vegetable stock
1 tbsp freshly chopped parsley and chives

Served with homemade onion ciabatta

Rinse the Puy lentils and place in a pot with plenty of water and one bay leaf. Cook for about 25 minutes, then add one pinch of salt and stir. Drain, discard the bay leaf and rinse again. Chop the red onion and place in a capable pot with the oilve oil, sage and rosemary, and sauté for a few minutes, then add the lentils, followed by the vegetable stock. Simmer for about 30 minutes, and just before serving add the chopped parsley and chives and another drop of extra virgin olive oil.

Photo and Recipe by Alessandra Zecchini ©

Saturday, April 16, 2011

Spicy Lentils

Wash 250 g of small brown lentils and soak for 2 hours.

Toast one tablespoon of coriander seeds in a pan, then grind with mortar and pestle.

Sliced one small onion and sizzle it with two tablespoons of vegetable oil. When the onion is translucent add the coriander seeds, 1 tsp of ground ginger, 1 of curry powder, a pinch of smoked paprika, a pinch of hot chilli and a pinch of salt (to taste).

Stir and sizzle for a minute then add the brown lentils (drained), 1 carrot, sliced, and a cup of water. Cook the lentils slowly, adding more water as soon as they dry out, and stirring often.

Cook the lentils for over one hour; the longer you cook them the better they will taste!

Great both with rice and with bread.

Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Basmati Rice with Lenitils and Lemon

This is one of my favourite vegan recipes because it is so easy to make, inexpensive, and yet it taste like Delicatessen food!

Ingredients:

500 g basmati rice

1 x 400 g can brown lentils

1 cup washed Italian parsley leaves

3 garlic cloves, peeled

salt to taste

1 lemon, plus one more for decoration

1 grated carrot

3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil, plus more to drizzle

freshly ground black pepper.

Wash the rice and cook by absorption. Rinse the lentils, and add to the rice when is nearly cooked. In the meantime finely chop the parsley leaves with the garlic and some salt. Place in a bowl and add the juice of one lemon and the grated carrot. Remover the rice and lentils from the heat add the parsley and lemon mixture, the olive oil, and stir. Divide between 6 plates, and top each one with one slice of lemon and some freshly ground black pepper. Add more salt and olive oil if you like, and enjoy. This is a full, balanced and healthy meal!

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Masala Dahl

My friend Mahendra Motibhai - Patel from Fiji gave me some masala powder. The package is great and the spice mixture smells highly aromatic and fresh. I love Indian food, I tried to make up a few recipes with the Motibhai masala, and I was particularly pleased with this one.

Yes, dahl is usually a soup and the lentils are small, but I had some green organic lentils which I wanted to use, and I was looking for a thicker consistency.

I sautéed for 30 seconds half tsp of turmeric and half tsp of cumin seeds with a little rice bran oil. Then I added a finely chopped onion and one tbsp of masala powder. Then the lentils, which had been rinsed, and then soaked for 30 minutes. I covered with water and added a big hot whole chili. After 30 minutes I added a little salt to taste and, just because I felt like it, a tbsp of butter. It was perfect, warm, fragrant, and mildly hot.

Serve with basmati rice or naan bread for a main course.

Vegan Recipes

Pages

Sunday, September 21, 2025

Brown lentil salad with onion weed

Saturday, July 17, 2021

Beautiful Brown Lentil Salad with Edible Flowers

Tuesday, June 28, 2016

Lenticchie in umido - Brown lentils Italian style

Tuesday, June 14, 2016

Roasted pumpkin medallions with pumpkin and sunflower seeds, Baked zucchini, Lemon basmati and lentils, Instant hummus, Almond dukka

Tuesday, October 6, 2015

Polenta and Italian lentils - Polenta e lenticchie

Thursday, November 22, 2012

Stuffed white cabbage leaves with lentils

Sunday, April 29, 2012

Puy lentil, red onion and herb soup

Saturday, April 16, 2011

Spicy Lentils

Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Basmati Rice with Lenitils and Lemon

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Masala Dahl

Blog Archive

Subscribe!