Loafing about with lentils...

A while back, a friend sent me a package of vegetarian cookbooks, which had been hanging around on my desk at work ever since. Then this morning the office computers went down and we all had to log off for three hours, so I ended up looking through a couple of them to pass the time. And I spotted a yummy-sounding recipe for lentil paté - it was in a book called Cookshelf: Vegetarian, which seems to be out of print, but you can probably still get it on Amazon. There are some really good ideas in it!

I didn't hold out much hope when I put it into the oven - I'd followed the recipe to the letter, and it does say to 'drain any excess water' once the lentils are cooked, but there was a LOT of excess water. I'd probably use half the liquid in the recipe! Even when I'd drained the lentils, the finished mixture looked seriously runny. But it baked up beautifully, and it tasted amazing! I had it with some salad and roasted asparagus, and it made a gorgeously light and healthy supper.



Lentil paté

1 onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 tsp garam masala
1/2 tsp ground coriander
850ml veg stock (I'd cut this down to around 500ml and see how it goes!)
175g red lentils
1 egg
2 tbsp milk (I used Kara coconut milk, thus rendering the recipe gluten- and dairy-free)
2 tbsp mango chutney (I used Blue Dragon sweet chilli sauce, which was fab)
2 tbsp chopped parsley (I didn't have any so I left this out)

1. Fry the onion and garlic in a little oil until softened. Add the garam masala and coriander and fry for another minute.

2. Stir in the lentils and stock, bring to the boil and simmer for 20 minutes or until the lentils are cooked and softened. Drain off any excess moisture.

3. Blend the lentils in a food processor with the egg, milk, mango chutney and parsley (I didn't bother, I just stirred it all together in the pan as the lentils were nice and mushy!)

4. Grease and line a 1lb loaf tin, spoon the mixture into the tin, and bake in a preheated oven at 200C for 40-45 minutes, until firm to the touch.

5. Allow to cool in the tin for 20 minutes, then transfer to the fridge to cool thoroughly (or eat it warm, as I did!)