.png)
Lentils with Gremolata, Red Onion, and Pomegranate Seeds
This is one of my favourite salads. The whole spices give little taste bombs in the lentils, which combine perfectly with the bursts of sweet juice from the pomegranate seeds. This is a good distraction for a mouth that would rather be eating chocolate.
And on that subject, this salad is very filling, so make plenty and keep it in the fridge for those moments in the middle of the night when you are considering ramming your car into the plate-glass window of your local Co-op to get at the chocolate.
- 250g very small lentils – Beluga black or Le Puy green are good options
- A teaspoon of whole peppercorns and coriander seeds
- Seeds from 5 cardamom pods
- A small red onion, finely sliced
- Seeds from half a pomegranate
- Gremolata - enough to make it interestingly green
- Salt and pepper
For the gremolata:
- A handful of parsley
- The peel of one lemon
- 1 clove of garlic
- 1 – 2 teaspoons olive oil
- Salt
- Add the peppercorns, coriander, and cardamom seeds to the lentils. Cover with plenty of water and cook for 20 – 30 minutes until they are just done.
- Drain and add a really good pinch of salt.
- Allow to cool
- Finely slice the onion.
- Deseed the pomegranate – do it over the lentils, so any juice goes into them.
- Add as much gremolata as you feel like.
- Mix it all together.
For the gremolata
- Peel the lemon with a potato peeler.
- Crush a clove of garlic and wash the parsley.
- Put the strips of lemon peel and crushed garlic on top of the parsley, and finely chop.
- Add the salt and olive oil, and mix well.
Diva notes.
Cooking lentils
You do not want them either too hard or mushy around the edges, and the line between the two is fine.
However, if you do not manage this, do not hurl yourself off the top of a tall building: it really isn’t worth it, even for something so vital to culinary excellence.
Slicing Onions
Do it by hand, food processor, or mandolin, but whatever you use, make sure the result is thin. Thickly-sliced raw onion is an abomination.
You can substitute spring onions, if you prefer.
Mixing the salad
Do it with your hands. This does a better job of coating the lentils with all the wonderful flavours than using a spoon. N.B. Do not apply hand-cream just before mixing: hand-cream does not improve the flavour.
Sign up for new recipes, tips, and downsizing stories.
