Warm lentils with oven roasted vegetables and a light yoghurt sauce, this lentil salad is a nourishing weekend lunch. I love the colours different ingredients bring in — brown lentils, crimson beets, orange carrots, red onions, green cucumbers, white yogurt. It is a delight to see and eat it.
The surprise element of this salad is the almond. Coarsely slivered almonds add just a little crunch that goes perfectly well with the warm roasted vegetables.
Last Sunday had a very retro lazy feel. A totally #donothing Sunday. I had not touched my craft supplies since months. On Sunday I just parked myself on the sofa with paper, thread and needles. I was happily crafting when around noon Sikander asked about lunch plans and I had none!
a #donothing Sunday – needle work on paper
The night before I had soaked about a cup of horse gram lentils without any plans. That’s when I remembered this lentil salad recipe I had saved sometime back from Bojon Gourmet. She describes it so correctly as a “gloriously nutritious platter”. I fell in love with the assorted roasted veggies in her picture.
This salad perfectly fit in the #donothing plan. Sikander helped chop the veggies and the oven did the rest of the work.
In the end I only had to whisk together yogurt, minced garlic, lime juice, salt and chopped parsley to make the easiest creamy salad dressing and plate it all together.
Lentil Salad with Roasted Vegetables and Yogurt Sauce
Ingredients (1cup = 240ml; 1tbsp = 15ml; 1tsp = 5ml)
- ½ cup horse gram lentils or any other whole lentil of your choice, soaked overnight
- 1 red onion cut into big chunks
- 2 red beetroots cut into big chunks
- 6 carrots peeled, trimmed and cut lengthwise
- 1 cucumber , chopped
- 2 tbsp Olive oil
- Sea salt to taste
- 1 tsp dried thyme
- freshly ground black pepper to taste
for the dressing
- ½ cup low-fat yogurt
- 1 clove of garlic , minced
- 1 lime , juice and zest
for garnish
- ¼ cup fresh parsley , chopped
- 2 tbsp almonds , slivered
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 200ºC.
- Drain the soaked lentils and cook them till soft, with 1½ cups of water and a little salt, either in a pressure cooker or in a deep saucepan. Horse gram takes about 30 minutes on medium heat in a saucepan. Once cooked, drain the lentils and add juice of half a lime to the lentils. Keep aside.
- While the lentils are cooking, get the vegetables ready for roasting. Toss all the veggies (except cucumbers) in a bowl with olive oil, sea salt, black pepper and dried thyme. Roast for about 20-30 minutes in the oven till they are tender. Halfway through, toss the veggies to ensure even roasting.
Salad Dressing
- To make the salad dressing, whisk together yogurt, garlic, lime juice, zest, some salt and chopped parsley in a small bowl.
To Serve
- To serve, first place the lentils in the salad plate, top with the roasted veggies and chopped cucumbers, drop a little yogurt sauce and sprinkle some fresh parsley and slivered almonds. Serve with extra yogurt salad dressing on the side. The salad is best enjoyed warm.
Notes
- Use soy yogurt for vegan lentil salad.
- You can add as many or as few vegetables of your choice to this salad. Add to the raw content with some zucchini, red capsicum and/or tomatoes. Roasted sweet potatoes will also go great with the salad.
Health benefits of Horse gram lentils
Horse gram lentils are greenish-brown small kidney shape lentils. Did you know that horse gram lentil is so called because it was used as a staple food for horses because of their high protein content? In fact horse gram is the most protein-rich lentil. It is amongst the most nutritious pulses — high in protein, iron, calcium, and fibre and low in fats. Making it a perfect lentil for weight loss as well. Apart from horse gram lentil, check out these 7 more legumes that aid in weight loss.
In hindi horse gram lentil is called Kulthi. Usually cultivated in dry agricultural areas, horse gram lentil is very common in South Indian cuisine.
Lentils add a lot of plant-based protein to a vegetarian salad. Horse gram lentil is perfect for lentil salads since it is very hard in texture and retains its shape even after prolonged cooking. You can use any other whole lentil like brown lentils, black gram or green mung. Sprouted lentils make a great raw, cold sprouts salad!
What’s your favourite recipe of lentil salad? Did you make this recipe? Send me a picture, leave a comment or connect with me on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Pinterest and Instagram. Would love to start a conversation, share recipes, cooking experiences and food stories from India and around the world.
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