Lentil stew with crusty bread

Easy recipe which is inexpensive to make. Great for the budget conscious who don’t want to compromise on flavour.

Ingredients

1. 1 cup dried green lentils (soaked overnight – do not use tinned)
2. 1 medium sized onion diced
3. 2 ripe tomatoes diced
4. 2 medium sized carrots diced
5. 5 cloves garlic
6. 3 teaspoons ground cumin
7. 1 teaspoon ground all spice
8. 1 teaspoon ground coriander
9. 3 bay leaves
10. 2 tablespoons paprika
11. 1-2 tablespoons olive oil
12. 750 ml water for cooking
13. 2 long red chillies
14. Salt – according to your taste
15. 1 tablespoon black pepper
16. Variations to stew can be made for more vegetables to be added:
17. 2 small white eggplant diced
18. 2 green zucchini diced
19. 2 tablespoons harrissa

Steps

1. Add the olive oil to a stock pot (large pot). Add the onion and cook until opaque on medium heat. Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute stirring until fragrant. Add the sliced chillies leaving a few for garnish at the end.

2. Add the diced tomatoes and all of the spices (cumin, coriander, all spice, paprika, bay leaf, salt and pepper) and stir until combined. Add 250ml of the water to combine ingredients and cook for 3-5 minutes.

3. Add the lentils, carrots and the rest of the water. You can either soak them overnight to reduce cooking time or you can add more water (500ml) to recipe and cook them longer if you haven’t soaked them. Cook from 1-3hrs on low heat. Keep an eye on them to make sure they aren’t sticking to the bottom of your pot otherwise it will get a bitter burnt taste.

4. If the stew gets a bit thick simply add small amounts of water to avoid sticky stew or burning. It should have stew juices to soak up with crusty bread loaf or baguette.

5. When the lentils are soft you can stop cooking. Serve in bowls with warm crusty bread and garnish with sliced red chillies and fresh coriander leaves.

6. Bon appetit!

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