Lovely Lentils!

As Dietitians, we are constantly encouraging clients to get busy in the kitchen and cook meals from scratch. The resistance we are often met with include: I don’t know how, it takes too long, healthy food doesn’t taste good…the list continues! So we thought it might be useful to show our readers a few hands-on recipes with pictures to prove just how easy it is to make healthy food from scratch.

As a winter warmer, the Lentil Moussaka  recipe below (adapted from Brookdale’s Heavenly and Healthy Foods Recipe Book ) is an absolute winner! Its hearty,  full of flavour and easy-peasy to make. It makes lots, so leftovers are a win and it’s cost effective as it uses tinned lentils (perfect for when there is too much month at the end of your money!)

Legumes (which include lentils, chickpeas and beans) are a rich  source of good quality protein, slow release carbohydrates, dietary fibre, vitamins and minerals. According to our South African Food Based Dietary Guidelines, it is recommended that nutritionists should aggressively encourage consumers to include more legumes!  So this is us at Nutritional Solutions being aggressive with our legume advocacy. Enjoy!

Moussaka

With mushroom, lentil and brinjal

(Adapted from Brookdale’s Heavenly and Healthy Foods Recipe Book )

Serves 6

Ingredients

2                      medium brinjals (aubergines), sliced

herb salt and freshly ground black pepper

30ml                 olive oil

2                      onions, finely chopped

10ml                 garlic, crushed

250ml              mushrooms, sliced

410g                 tin chopped peeled tomatoes

7.5ml                chopped fresh oregano or 3ml dried oregano

500ml               cooked brown lentils

5ml                   sugar (if tomatoes are too tart)   

Method

• Slice brinjals and brush lightly with olive oil and season
• Place on a lightly greased baking tray
• Roast in a pre-heated oven at 180 degrees for 10 minutes
• Set aside when ready
• In a saucepan heat 30ml olive oil and sauté onion and garlic
• Add mushroom, tomato, oregano and cooked lentils.
• Season to taste.

Sauce

15ml                 butter

30ml                 cake flour

250ml               skim milk

10ml                 ground nutmeg

3                      eggs

• Melt butter and add flour to make a roux.
• Remove from the stove and slowly stir in milk.
• Return to the stove and allow to thicken, stirring constantly.
• Once thickened, add nutmeg and whisk in eggs and seasoning.

 To Assemble

• Spoon half the sauce on to the base of an oven-proof dish (17 x 26cm)
• Layer sliced brinjals, then lentil mixture, and then sliced brinjals again.
• Lastly add a layer of sauce.
• Bake at 180 degrees until light brown o top, about 20-30 minutes.
• Serve with a simple salad of your choice.

References:

1. Venter CS., Vorster HH., Ochse R., et al. (2013) FBDG for South Africa: Eat dry beans, split peas, elntils and soya regularly” S Afr J CLin Nutr 26 (3); s36-45.
2. MRC FoodFinder for Recipe Analysis