The new year has begun! Those first days of the new year are often still dark and chilly. So we asked our chef for a recipe that is warming and truly deserves the phrase “comfort food.” If you feel like spending some time in the kitchen today, try making these lentils with spring carrots!
A fun fact from our Hungarian colleague: Apparantly in Hungary, they always eat lentils in the New Year! It seems that the more lentils you eat, the more prosperity you will have in the year. All the more reason to try out this recipe! Don’t feel like cooking but in the mood for comfort food? You’re always welcome for dinner at one of our Gys locations.
Components of the recipe
This (gluten-free and vegan) dish created by our colleague Christiaan consists of 5 elements (sounds complicated, is actually surprisingly simple).
- Harissa spring carrots
- Salad
- Carrot-leaves chermoula
- Tahini sauce
- Lentils
Recipe for 4 people:
A usefull tip is to stop by an Arabian grocery store, here you will find many of the ingredients. You can proabably find a lot already in a regular supermarket but often these ingredients are much cheaper at an Arabian grocery store. Think; tahini, harissa and dill.
Harissa spring carrots
- 1 bundle of carrots
- 1 tbsp harissa paste
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tsp salt
Cut the foliage off the carrot and save it for the chermoula. Cut the carrots twice lengthwise so that your carrots are divided into quarters.
Marinate the spring carrots with the harissa, olive oil and salt and place in an oven dish, roast in an oven at 220C for about 15 min.
Carrot-leaves Chermoula
- 100 grams of carrot foliage (this is about the foliage of 1 bundle) finely chopped
- 15 grams of dill, finely chopped
- 2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
- A half chopped onion
- Half of a green chili pepper, finely chopped (the other half will come in handy later!) (Pro-tip: all of the above ingredients can also be finely chopped in a food processor)
- Zest and juice of one lemon
- 1 tsp coarse sea salt
- 150 ml of olive oil
- Pinch of ground cumin
Mix all the ingredients, except the olive oil, in a bowl and let it stand for 10 min. The salt and lemon juice will soften the carrot tops. Then add the olive oil and mix. Taste to see if it is to your liking and add more salt or pepper if necessary.
Salad
- 1 cucumber
- 2 red onions
- 3 tomatoes
Chop all of the ingredients into about 1 cm cubes. Mix the vegetables with a teaspoon of salt and half of the chermoula.
Tahini sauce
- 2 tbsp tahini
- Juice of 1 lemon
- 100 ml water (ice cold water works best)
- A pinch of salt
Mix the tahini, lemon juice and salt. This is easiest with a blender or a hand blender. At some point, a thick paste forms. Then add the water and combine this together. The sauce should have yogurt-thick like consistency.
Lentils
- 400 grams of red Lentils
- 1200 ml of vegetable broth
- 1.5 white onion, chopped
- 1 clove of garlic
- A pinch of cumin
- 2 tbsp of olive oil
Sautรฉ the garlic and onion in the olive oil until translucent. Add the cumin until fragant and your whole kitchen smells delicious. Now add the red lentils and cook for about 2 minutes. Add the broth, bring to a boil and cook for 12 minutes. When the lentils are cooked they automatically thicken the broth and form a nice creamy lentil stew.
Lentils with spring carrots and chermoula on a plate
Once you’ve prepared all the ingredients, it’s time to finish the dish so you have a wonderful plate of “comfort food.” The best way to do this is as follows:
- Take two big scoops of the lentil stew and pour it onto a flat plate;
- Place the spring carrots in a line on top of the lentils. Spread the salad in a line diagonally on top of the carrots;
- On each plate, drizzle a tablespoon of tahini sauce and a tablespoon of carrot-leaf chermoula over the stew. If desired, garnish with some additional dill;
Enjoy your meal! And on behalf of all of us, we’d already like to wish you a very happy New Year.
