Warm Lentil Salad
A warm, aromatic, lentil and butter pea salad, also perfect as a side!
It’s no secret, most of us tend to eat with our eyes.
Every little glimpse I get of gooey chocolate or succulent sides or melty cheese has me reeling from that zing in the back of my throat, right at my jawline, as my salivary glands ping into over production!
Eating with my eyes can be exhausting for my salivary glands so I keep hoping a scratch and taste laptop or screen is invented soon!
And, as bad as my eatwithmyeyesitis is, 16 year old’s seem to have it worse!
My daughter and her friends had their last day of school last Thursday and we are in official summer-break mode here in Georgia! In years past, about 2 weeks after the start of summer, my daughter would begin to miss her friends and school. But, this year, she started missing them the weekend after!
As a couple of her friends are seniors who she won’t be seeing around school next year, she wanted to have a few of them over for a simple pizza get together. So, I headed over to my neighborhood grocery store and picked up a couple of TONY’S® Pizzas and some other supplies for their get together. Tony’s® Pizza’s are now 30% larger which means there’s plenty of that authentic pizzeria taste to satisfy this group of always-hungry teenagers!
As these pizzas baked, the smell of the Italian-Style Herbed sauce had these girls gather around my kitchen island. The whole time they giggled and talked, I kept seeing them glancing at the oven timer and peering into the oven – like Taylor Kitsch was in it!
As they waited, I even managed to get them to sample some of this warm lentil salad – even though one of them said that it just didn’t look appetizing, though it smelled good! Yes – we definitely do eat with out eyes! But, after a taste, they started ladling spoonfuls onto their plates, and, before long – this salad was history!
To Find out more about the new 30% Tony’s Pizza, please visit their website and connect with them on Facebook.
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup lentils
- 1 1/2 cup water
- 1 onion
- 1 inch piece of fresh ginger
- 1 clove garlic
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 cups frozen butter peas
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- 1 teaspoon oregano
- Salt and pepper
- 2 handfuls spinach
- 2 tomatoes
- Cilantro black and white sesame seeds to garnish
Instructions
- Cook the lentils in the water for 12-14 minutes over a medium flame
- Meanwhile, chop the garlic, onion, ginger finely and roughly chop the spinach and tomatoes
- Saute the garlic, onion, and ginger in a pan with the olive oil till onion is translucent – about 10 – 12 minutes
- Add butter peas and saute
- Then add the cooked lentils, cumin, oregano, spinach and tomatoes salt and pepper (to taste)
- Garnish with sesame seeds and cilantro and serve warm
Nutrition
Red lentils are the best! Again a very cool combo of ingredients. Will keep that in mind for my recent salad in a jar sessions! thanks 🙂
Thanks so much Howie!
So fun! Glad they loved this salad 🙂 I adore lentils and this delicious salad would be disappear quickly around here too. It sounds fantastic with the pizza!
Thanks so much Kelly!
I would like pizza AND lentil salad right now please! Looks great!
Thanks Bianca!
It’s so true that we do eat with our eyes and as soon as I saw this colourful salad I knew I wanted to make it! I do love to eat salads but at this time of year, warm salads are best xx
Thanks so much Charlie! Stay warm! xx
Not going to lie, I’m still a little crnky you didn’t invite me. That just means in July, you’ll make a Freekah cake out of Sunny D.
Gross, please don’t.
Love how you paired this with a lentil salad though- Smart cookie.
Haha – “Freekeh cake with SunnyD” – that does sound gross! Hey – consider you have an open invite anytime! 🙂
haha a scratch and taste laptop! Now that would be something!!! This salad sounds wonderful – I love anything with lentils!!
Thanks so much Ashley – can you imagine the possibilities with a scratch and taste laptop … 🙂
Mmmmm, I can imagine the cumin and oregano going so well together as a combination in that warm lentil salad!
Thanks Neil!
Sounds (and looks) like a delicious salad to me! Perfect to go with pizza!
Thanks so much Chris!
Great things happening on here Shashi! I love lentils and often incorporating it in salads. It’s a bit sweltering outside to have a warm version right now, but I’ll definitely opt for the salad (although I do like be pizza as well) 🙂
Thanks so much Ben!
Sorry, I would ditch the lentils for the pizza!
Haha – thanks Tandy!
Incredible flavors! Just love the idea of a lentil salad! Genius!
Thanks Asmita!
Okay well I have to admit, the pizza does look very delicious but I love the idea of a lentil side salad! It would be a lot more filling that a regular leafy salad meaning less pizza binging LOL either way looks refreshing a great for summer!
Thanks so much Selena! You sure are right – this was one filling salad indeed!
I love me a good warm lentil salad, especially when there’s spinach involved in the equation!
Thanks my friend!
I’d rather have the lentil salad than the pizza but I do love pizza!
Now that made my day – thanks Maureen!
Ohhh yeah I’m loving this lentil salad and I’m glad to hear your daughter and her friends ended up liking it too 🙂
It’s just so hard for me to make lentils pretty – thanks Erin!
oh i need a good fiber filled salad! send that my way. and does tony’s have gluten free?? YUM!
Thanks Lindsay – unfortunately, no – Tony’s doesn’t have a gluten free option – yet…
What a delicious combination, Shashi! That warm lentil salad could be dinner on its own, but then put it with a slice of pizza and I’m set. Now if only we could figure out how to have adult summer vacations, right? 😉 I hope you and the fam had an awesome long weekend!
Thanks David – I managed to sneak me a spoonful of that salad and I slathered it on top of my slice of pizza and yum! David, the only way I can think of having an adult summer break is if we all went and worked for the school system! Hey – didn’t you teach Latin at one time?? They are always looking for high school Latin teachers in GA….
🙂
THis looks very tasty! would def be perfect with a nice slice of pizza! Pinning
Thank you so much Bethany and Rachel
Love that you snuck a little health into them in lentil salad form after all that pizza! Moderation in all things!
Haha – yup – moderation in all things indeed, Joanne! 🙂
Yay! You’re wonderful! I have a couple bags of lentils that I’ve been trying to figure out something to make for–this would be perfect! :]
Oooh – I sure hope you do get to try this – I hope you love it as much as I did! Thanks Farrah!
Love lentil salads, warm or chilled. That pizza looks pretty awesome too.
Thanks so much Angie!
I really enjoy warm lentil salads, Yours looks so vibrant, healthy and colourful. I think it’s a feast for the eyes and the palate!
And here I was thinking this was one unappealing salad – looks wise at least – Thanks so much Nazneen for telling me otherwise! xx
I would love a big bowl of your warm lentil salad for lunch, it looks so delicious and love the fresh coriander. I love the crunch of veggies with the soft and warm lentils. I would also love to have a normal boxed pizza available in HK. It is so not cool to be putting corn and seafood on your pizza, even if they think so here. Have a super week!
Thanks Bobbie – but, now I am intrigued – corn and seafood – together on pizza??? I don’t think I’ve ever tried that – ever…