Posted on September 01, 2015 by Jenny Cromack

As a vegi it frustrates me how many restaurants only offer 1-2 vegi dishes, it’s not too hard to make healthy vegetarian food. One of the things I’m not so good at making are my own bean burgers, but this week I nailed them, so I’ve been having them with my lunches or when I need a quick evening meal with some roasted veg.

But, instead of sharing my bean burger recipe, I thought I’d share my lovely Mushroom, Tomato and Spinach Dhal recipe which I made at the weekend. In fact we had some left over so I also had it cold for lunch one day and it was still really tasty. I love spicy food, but it’s up to you how much spice you use in this recipe. This recipe serves 2 but if you serve smaller portions with some meat or tofu then you will get at least one lunch portion left!

The picture below doesn’t do the dish justice in how tasty it is (and ignore the little bit which has been spilled on the side!)

Ingredients

• 1 clove garlic, crushed
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 1 tsp cumin seeds
• 1 tsp ground coriander
• 1 tsp turmeric
• 1 tsp cumin seeds
• 1 tsp ground ginger
• 150g green lentils (red are fine if this is all you have!)
• 2o0g sliced mushrooms
• 3 handfuls of fresh spinach
• 200g cherry or vine tomatoes, quartered
• 500ml water/veg stock

Method

1. Add the onion, garlic and spices in a small amount of coconut oil to a large pan, cook for 2-3 minutes. Then add ¼ cup water and cook for a further 2 minutes.
2. Rinse the lentils, then add to the pan with 400ml water and cook for 2 minutes
3. Add the remaining mushrooms and tomatoes, and leave to simmer until the lentils have absorbed the water and are fully cooked. (You may need to keep adding water/stock so the lentils do not stick).
4. When the lentils are almost cooked, add the spinach and cook until wilted.
5. Keep tasting the dish throughout to ensure the spices are to your liking and add as needed.