Coconut and Berries

Healthy, Vegan Recipes by Emma Potts

Quick and Easy Lentil-Yogurt Salad

Lentil-Yogurt Salad (Vegan) |coconutandberries.com

Quick and simple is the name of the game around these parts at the moment! I’m working away to get my dissertation written. After two weeks away it was a bit tough getting back into it, especially since I’m done with the fun bit and have just got the boring stuff left to do…

Of course I’d much rather be doing other things, including cooking, but I’ve accepted I’ll just be spending a little less time in the kitchen over the next few weeks while I get it done.

BUT, good food is still important to me and even with less time to play with I’m making sure my meals are just as tasty and healthy as usual. I’ve been enjoying this Lentil-Yogurt Salad for the past couple of days and hope you’ll like it too!

French lentils, bay leaves, garlic, onion

Lentils are a great lunch staple- unlike other beans/legumes they don’t need to be soaked overnight, and even then they only need cooking for 20 minutes or so. They’re inexpensive and super nutritious too of course. All that protein and fibre will power you on through until dinner time.

My preference are French Puy lentils which hold their shape more than other kinds and make for a better textured salad. None of that mushy stuff for me thank you!

When cooking these lentils I actually realized I’d picked up some imposter Puy lentils (or at least mistaken regular French green lentils for Puy…)! I cooked them for slightly less time than I would Puy and they turned out fine but I highly recommend real Puy for the best salad experience!

Lentil-Yogurt Salad (Vegan) |coconutandberries.com

I throw a quartered onion, a couple of smashed garlic cloves and bay leaves into the pot so that the lentils pick up some flavour while they’re cooking. I think I could eat a whole bowl of lentils cooked like that and just dressed with a simple vinaigrette, but this time I thought I’d try something a little different but just as easy.

A good spoonful of yogurt (non-dairy of course!) with lemon, olive oil and fresh herbs was a lovely change, especially with sweet, crunchy summer vegetables- my favourites at the moment are sugar snap peas, cherry tomatoes and radishes.

Lentil-Yogurt Salad (Vegan) |coconutandberries.com

Served with a green salad and sprouted wheat bread with homemade hummus for a lunch of champions!

 

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Quick & Easy Lentil-Yogurt Salad

Yield: 4-6 Servings

Quick & Easy Lentil-Yogurt Salad

Ingredients

  • 1 C Puy lentils OR Green lentils
  • 1 Onion, peeled and quartered
  • 2 Cloves of garlic, peeled and smashed with the flat of a knife
  • 2 Bay leaves
  • 4 C (+) Cold water
  • Heaping 1/2 C each:
  • Sliced radishes
  • Halved cherry tomatoes
  • Sliced Sugar snap peas
    • Dressing
  • 1/3 C Non-dairy yogurt (I use unsweetened organic soy)*
  • 1-1/2 Tbsp Lemon juice
  • 1 Tbsp Olive oil
  • 2 Tbsp Chopped parsley
  • 2 Green onions, finely chopped
  • 1/2 tsp Salt (or to taste)
  • Black pepper

Instructions

  1. Add the lentils, onion, garlic and bay leaves to a medium-large pot and cover with at least 4 cups of water. Cook for 20-25 minutes, until just tender but not mushy. Drain, remove onion, garlic and bay leaves and set aside to cool.
  2. Meanwhile, mix together all the dressing ingredients.
  3. Stir the dressing into the lentils then stir through the vegetables. Check seasoning and serve.
  4. This salad keeps well for a few days, covered, in the fridge.

Notes

* If you're soy-free you could try using coconut yogurt instead of the soy yogurt. It will have a slightly different taste but will almost certainly still be delicious.

http://www.coconutandberries.com/2014/07/30/quick-easy-lentil-yogurt-salad/

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 What are your favourite quick lunch recipes? Please share in the comments!

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Comments

  1. I love my lentils, green, brown, red or puy! This looks delicious Emma and so quick to make! Good luck finishing your dissertation!

  4. Looks and sounds so simple and delicious, which I love Emma!! I love, love lentils. They are so nutritious and full of protein. Even before I was vegan, I devoured them. This looks so satisfying and I love the sound of that dressing!

  5. Yay, I love green lentils too… my go to lentil (unless i want a mushy soup base) My favourite way is using them in a bolognaise style sauce which is also super speedy for me since i always have cooked up lentil portions in the freezer. My other go-to would be my mixed bean salad on my blog… great for summer and I make a batch to last a few days in the fridge.

    • That’s true. Sometimes you do want mushy! Red lentils are perfect in that case 😉
      Lentil bolognaise is one of my go-to quick meals in the winter too. I’ll check out your mixed bean salad now.

  6. I understand the feeling, when I come back from short or long travels, it is hard to adjust and get on track. I prepare scheduled posts on the week after I return so I can have the week off to relax and start fresh. French Puy lentils are so pretty in salads but they are very hard to find in my area. Mmm, smashed garlic cloves, bay leaves, and everything in this amazing salad are just delicious! I love Sojade products, they are the best!

    • Aren’t Sojade, great?! I’m so pleased we can buy them in the UK now as I was first introduced to them when I lived in France and Spain. Bummer you can’t get Puy lentils easily. You can actually get them in supermarkets here now. You’ll just have to come to England 😉

  9. Good luck with the final writing stages Emma!

    I really do love lentils, although for some inexplicable reason I haven’t had them since moving. That’s over 6 weeks! I need to rectify that soon and this looks like just the way to do it :)

  10. Looks good to me - I know how all that studying can chip at cooking time, so it’s great to see all the tasty and healthy stuff along side the dissertation.

    • Yeh, it’s a little sad to have less time for playing in the kitchen:( Dinner time rolls around all of a sudden and by then I’m too hungry to put anything fun together I’m going through a lot of chickpeas!
      The finish line is in sight though!

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