Spiced “Egyptian” Lentil Bake Recipe (Vegetarian Main or a Side for Chicken)

We had people popping over for dinner the other day, all of them of the meat eating persuasion so I decided to cook a Free Range Roast Chicken slathered in middle-eastern spices for them all. It’s nice and easy and leaves me with plenty of time to concentrate on the most important item… the Vegetarian Dish : )

I don’t really see the point in spending much time on cooking something that’s just for me. The joy of cooking is sharing the fruits of your labour so the vegetarian dish needed to be something that would work alongside the chicken and salads. In the end I went for a lentil dish that I believe has Egyptian origins and got a bit liberal with my spice cupboard’s contents.

This ended up working as a great vegetarian side for the rest of the diners but paired with salads and flatbreads, it was a wonderful main dish too. I certainly didn’t feel like I was just eating an accompaniment!

Vegetarian Lentil Bake with Middle-Eastern Spices:

Serves 4-6

Finely chop 10 spring onions (scallions) and put in a pan with a good glug of olive oil (about 2 tablespoons). Fry the onions over a medium heat, try and keep them moving, it will stop them from browning too much.

Take 2 -3 cloves of garlic and a red chilli (seeds remove), chop them finely and add to the pan. Fry off for another couple of minutes before adding in a tablespoon and a half of tomato puree. Cook this off for another 5 minutes.

Now it’s time for the spices, heaped teaspoons of cumin, coriander, smoked paprika and turmeric. Fry these off for a minute or so and then stir in a cup of red lentils. Top the mixture with 4 cups of boiling water, bring to a simmer and leave it for half an hour, you’ll need to stir it occasionally to make sure it doesn’t stick.

Once the lentil mix has thickened up and the lentils are nicely cooked, throw in 20g each of fresh coriander and flat leaf parsley. Season with at least ½ tsp salt, 1 tsp pepper and a tbsp of lemon juice.

Tip: If the lentils are still too sloppy then bubble away for longer until the liquid reduces. If they are dry but not done, add in water a ladle at a time.

Transfer the lentil mix to an oven dish and crack 6 free-range eggs over the top, making a little well for each one as you do. Sprinkle salt and pepper liberally on to the eggs.

Pop the whole thing into an oven at Gas Mark 5 for about 20 minutes – but do check them since ovens are all a bit different. When the egg is cooked to your liking, it’s done. All that's needed now is another dousing with olive oil and some warm flatbreads to mop up the juices.

All made from scratch and served within the hour. This is ideal mid-week dining for those that love home cooked food. For that reason I reckon it's ideal for the Made With Love Mondays challenge, a great collection of homemade delights.