Two very yummy meals today. First up was breakfast after Fitstep class, so I was pretty hungry. Crisped up some focaccia from the freezer in a frying pan, with a couple of chorizo slices and had that with scrambled egg and tomato. Yum
Then at lunchtime I tried one of the salads I spoke about yesterday.
What was the Green Lentil Salad Like?
This was a substantial and very tasty salad. I absolutely loved the dressing. I was impressed with my inspiration, haha
Variations of Green Lentil Salad
Truth be told, I could barely detect the mushrooms, so they could be left out. I thought that they would be a very strong flavour, maybe the porcini would be stronger. The pop of sweetness from the raisins worked well.
Change the vegetables in your salad
Any mild, crispy vegetables can be used…radish, mooli, broccoli, cauliflower etc etc. The green lentils could be changed for any other pulse, whatever you have or like, chickpeas, kidney beans, pinto, cannelloni or haricot beans.
Is green lentil salad just for dinner?
It would be equally good as either lunch or dinner. It would also make a good packed lunch.
What else would the brinjal dressing go with?
The dressing would go with many other salads and would make a fab dip to have with crudités. You could use it as a butter substitute in sandwiches, or on jacket potatoes and I bet it would be lovely stirred through pasta.
How can I stretch the green lentil salad
If you wanted to stretch the salad, you could have some crusty bread and butter with it, and make it serve 2. That would reduce the cost per serving too. Most of the calories are in the lentils, so if you don’t want that many calories, reduce the amount of lentils.
The mushrooms are one of several jars from Approved Foods that are in the stores. I tend to write the price on AP groceries, as you can see! I used these as there is a little packet of porcini in the cupboard, but we are in such chaos, I couldn’t find them today. The mushrooms contribute very little to the flavour of the finished dish, so as the porcini had increased in price by a huge amount when I repriced them today, I’ve now left them out altogether
Before going to class, I put the lentils in a saucepan and covered them with warm water. On my return, they were nicely plumped and didn’t take long to simmer their way to softness. If I had been using dried porcini, I would have put those in to soak as well.
Green lentil, mushroom, raisin and cucumber salad, with a brinjal pickle and yoghurt dressing Click To Tweet
Slimming World and Green Lentil Salad
A total of 4 Syns a serving
Most of this salad is Free on Slimming World. The ingredients that aren’t are the raisins and the brinjal pickle in the dressing. The raisins make a big contribution to the flavour so are worth the 3 Syns.
The small amount of pickle in this costs 1 Syn.
Ingredients
- 80 g lentils dried green, Gama for Goodness Sake £2.20/kg, 18p
- handful lettuce/rocket from garden or from a purchased iceberg lettuce 60p, 6p
- few basil leaves from greenhouse
- 1 carrots peeled and ribboned, 5p
- 2 inch cucumber diced, 55p a fruit, 5p
- 1 tsp Patak’s Brinjal pickle £1.95, 3p
- 2 tblsps yogurt plain, 5p
Instructions
- Simmer the lentils until cooked through but not mushy. I often cook an entire packet and freeze them in portions, makes things like this salad much faster
- Then, mix the brinjal pickle and yoghurt together.
- Taste and add more pickle or yoghurt according to your taste.
- Layer up the salad starting with the lettuce
- Add the carrot ribbons, slices of mushroom and diced cucumber
- Top with the lentils and raisins
- And finally, top with the dressing
Equipment Needed
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