Sunday Sudanese Lentils

My big brother is an archaeologist and gets to visit some pretty interesting places. A couple of years ago he was working in Sudan, and when he came to visit us last Christmas he brought home some culinary secrets. I’d never cooked with red lentils until he showed us what they’d eat on the dig, and since then it’s a bit of a ritual for me to cook this recipe on a Sunday night.

The best thing about this recipe is that it’s easy to be creative. I’ve overhauled Matt’s original recipe to suit my taste and you can easily individualise my recipe as well by using different spices and serving with different herbs. I made this recipe again last night and added roast tomato and zucchini as well…delicious!

Ingredients

• A splash of olive oil
• One brown onion, chopped
• 2 tsp ground cumin
• 2 tsp of ground coriander
• 1 tsp of turmeric
• Two cups of dried red lentils, rinsed thoroughly
• 1.5 vegetable stock cubes dissolved in 2.5 cups of boiling water
• One tin of chopped tomatoes
• 6 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
• Two handfuls of baby spinach
• Yogurt (or soy yogurt) and 1 lemon to serve

Method

1. Heat olive oil in a large pot at medium heat. Add the onion and sauté until the onion is soft. Add the spices and fry until fragrant (or in common language, it smells delicious!)

2. Add the red lentils and half the stock and bring to the boil. Once bubbling, bring back to a simmer and stir frequently.

3. Once the lentils are slightly soft (around 5 -10 minutes), add the whole contents of the tinned tomatoes and continue to simmer, adding more stock as necessary.

4. While the lentils are simmering, saute the garlic in a small frypan on a medium-low heat until light brown. Once cooked, add to the lentil mixture.

The lentils should take around 20 minutes to cook, at a simmer. You can tell they are complete when they fall apart slightly and are soft to taste.

Stir in the spinach just before serving so it doesn’t get too soft.

Dish out the lentils and serve with a wedge of lemon and a scoop of yogurt. Fresh flat-leaf parsley or coriander also tastes divine on top.

Simmering lentils – almost at completion!

Variations:

The original with lime:

If you have a preference for lime or just don’t like tomatoes, you can make this dish with the former and without the latter! Simply skip the tomato step and add a little extra stock if needed. Serve with lime.