It seems everyone on the internet is doing lentil salad this week, so why not me? My version is a little Moroccan, a little Asian and a lot delicious.
The base of this salad is tat soi, an Asian green that tastes like a spicy spinach or a mustardy bok choy. It works really well with the spicy Moroccan flavors in this salad, but if you can’t find tat soi by you, feel free to use arugula or baby spinach instead.
Thanks to the lentils, this dish is hearty enough to fill you up for dinner, but if you’re feeling extra hungry serve it alongside some grilled tofu or (gasp!) a delicate white fish if you’re down with that sort of thing.
Ingredients
Serves 4
Dressing
4 tablespoons grape seed oil
4 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
1½ tablespoon maple syrup or agave nectar
1 tablespoon really seedy mustard
2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons ground black pepper
1 teaspoon ground cumin
½ teaspoon turmeric
½ teaspoon Ras el hanout
½ teaspoon ground coriander
1/8 tsp. ground nutmeg
¼ tsp. ground cinnamon
1 tablespoon fresh mint, minced
1 tablespoon fresh parsley, minced
1 tablespoon lemon juice
Warm Bits
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 small onions, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
½ cup dried cranberries, roughly chopped
1 15.5-ounce can lentils, rinsed thoroughly
Salad
5 ounces baby tat soi, rinsed well
1 large tomato, diced
½ cup walnuts, roughly chopped
First, whisk together all the dressing ingredients until well combined. Set aside.
Next, warm one tablespoon olive oil in a sauce pan over medium-high heat. Sauté onions for three minutes, add in garlic and continue sautéing for one more minute. Set heat to low and toss in cranberries. Once they start to plump up a little, after about three or four minutes, add in the rinsed lentils. Give the pan a good stir and turn off heat. The canned beans are already tender enough to eat, so we just want to warm them up a bit.
Finally, in a very big bowl, toss tat soi, tomato and walnuts together. Add in the lentil mixture and as much dressing as you like. I don’t like too much dressing, so I had about three tablespoons left over that I used to marinate tofu for lunch the next day. Mix everything together and enjoy!