Lovely lentil salad with a twist: Puy lentil salad with roasted beet root & curcuma cinnamon dressing.

You know what happens to me all the time? I make a lovely meal, let my love P. try it, culinary friends try it – everybody loves it, but when I don’t post it straight away then it’s almost too late and it disappears in the back of our head as a lovely memory and slowly fades away. Not with this one! Thanks to my friend U. who kept on reminding me. So let me dedicate this lovely lentil salad to you and your gorgeous wife and beautiful baby girl in return ❤

I made this salad when my friend was still patiently in hospital, waiting for the baby to come and on the day I pre celebrated my 34th birthday with my friends. Just out of curiosity I let my friend U. try it and he was as blown away as P. and me. It’s a surprising mix of flavors, especially due to the roasted beetroots and the gorgeous mix of spices in the dressing. But as usual this dish is not only yummy but also boasting of health benefits! The lentils are little folic acid warriors (yes, just as well as the Chickpea Crêpes my previous blog post) and the beetroots are not only great for boosting stamina and making muscles work harder, they also contain iron, magnesium, potassium, magnesium as well as vitamins A, B6 and C, and – again! – folic acid. So, let’s get started!

What you need….
(Recipe inspired and adapted from one of my favorite blogs MyNewRoots)

1 small pack of puy lentils, washed and cooked tender according to instructions
3-4 beetroots, washed & peeled
3 celery stalks
Best quality salt (I used Himalayan)
Coconut oil (for roasting the veg)
2-3 pinches of ground cumin and coriander
A handful of fresh cilantro

For the dressing:
Best quality olive oil
Apple cider vinegar
Dijon mustard
Spices: pinch of cinnamon, pinch of curcuma, tiny pinch of cayenne pepper
Raw Agave sirup
Salt

Optional: goat cheese, crumbled

What to do….
Start with roasting the the beetroots and celery stalks as this step takes the longest. Wash, chop in chunky pieces, spread on a tray, drizzle with coconut oil, salt and the spices and roast them in the oven for about 45min at 190°C.

In the meantime cook puy lentils according to instructions, just watch out that they keep a nice bite. Drain and let them cool off. Now mix the ingredients into a nice dressing. Start with small amounts and keep playing until the mix is perfect to your taste (some like it hotter, so add more cayenne and mustard, others sweeter and so on – trust your taste buds 🙂

As soon as the veg is ready, take it out of the oven and let it get cooled off. Chop up cilantro roughly  and finally mix everything together carefully so the lentils don’t get squashed. Also lovely when ingredients are still a bit warm!

For a non vegan version, this salad is also amazing with some crumbled goat cheese on top.

Hope you enjoy it as much as we did and once again, tons of love and all the best to baby Sienna and to great friendship ❤
Your support means a lot to me…

N xxx

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Crazy yummy Chickpea Crêpes. 1x savoury and 1x sweet

Have you ever tried chickpea crêpes, also called Farinata which is a typical Italian flatbread? Always on the search for new healthy food inspiration I’ve read about it several times and already got the chickpea flour (also called gram flour or besan flour) home to be prepared when the next opportunity would come. Today was the day! Having a public holiday here in Malta and running out of eggs is not a good combo in our house. The solution?! Remembering about this easy and tasty sounding recipe we gave it a go and ended up in pure bliss.

To make it a proper brunch P and I decided to make savory and sweet versions which was really fun. You can truly experiment with whatever you feel like and have in the fridge.

And the best thing about the whole thing? This dish is not only easy, healthy and super yummy, but the chickpea flour also contains lots of folate which supports reproducing and maintaining new cells and is therefor great for for future mums and mummies to be. It delivers a boost of iron, magnesium and phosphor (more info here). Also, this dish is gluten free and stands on his own with only a few ingredients!

All you need…..
(Inspired and adapted from The Whole Pantry and Kris Carr)

For the batter:
125g chickpea flour
1/4 l water
some salt and olive oil
Optional: If you only use it for savoury Crêpes, you can also add parsley, cumin, coriander, turmeric, red chili, rosemary, onion or garlic

For the savoury filling:
1 zucchini
1 red & 1 yellow pepper
some olive oil, best quality salt (I always use pink Himalayan) and herbes de provence
Optional: add some crumbled feta cheese in the end. 

For the sweet filling:
1 banana
almond butter or greek yoghurt
cinnamon and some raw honey

What to do…..

Combine all ingredients into a  smooth batter and let it sit for at least 3/4 of an hour, otherwise the Crêpes will get sticky. Until then you can prepare the fillings and set the table 🙂

Mix the batter when the time is over, and prepare a pan on medium heat. Use a tiny bit of coconut oil if it isn’t a nonstick pan. Use a ladle to spread the batter in the pan and fry it about a  minute on each side until they are nice and golden. Don’t let the Crêpes in there for too long otherwise they get hard to fold. Hold them warm in the oven or fill them immediately with one of the fillings below or any other filling of your choice.

Savoury Chickpea Crêpes with roasted peppers & zucchini
Put your oven on 200°C, chop up the veg, drizzle with olive oil and herbs de provence. Roast it for about 25/30min. Use as a filling.

Sweet Chickpea Crêpes with banana, cinnamon & honey
Slice the banana. Put some almond butter or greek yoghurt in the Crêpe, add the banana and drizzle with honey and cinnamon.

ENJOOOOOOOOOY!!!

Love,
N xx