Moroccan Lentil Salad

I don’t like salad, or perhaps it’s better said that I generally do not like salad. Sometimes the greens are too bitter or the tomatoes not how I like them (I prefer whole cherry or grape tomatoes, not diced tomatoes) or the dressing isn’t to my liking (no honey – or agave – mustard for me, thanks). But I do like it more when I can add more interesting flavors and textures like dill or kidney beans. Still, I would rather have potatoes or pasta over salad.

But I have decided that I am going to make an effort and try to make salads I can enjoy and maybe even love. I have added, for the first time, a category for Salad on Novel Eats, and I’m going to start filling it with recipes I try, and I’ll be honest if I like them or not.

This first salad is a result of a search I did the other day for lentil salad recipes. This one caught my eye because of the addition of spicy peppers and lime, and I actually like it pretty well. I do think it works better as a side rather than on its own, but its flavors are fresh and the colors beautiful. A good start to my self-imposed salad challenge.

Moroccan Lentil Salad
The original recipe can be found on Allrecipes.com

• 1/2 cup dry lentils
• 1 1/2 cups water
• 1 cup pre-cooked or 1 15-ounce can garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed
• 2 tomatoes, chopped
• 4 green onions, chopped
• 2 hot green chile peppers, seeded and minced
• 1 green bell pepper, seeded and chopped
• 1/2 yellow bell pepper, seeded and chopped
• 1 red bell pepper, seeded and chopped
• 1 lime, juiced
• 1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
• Salt to taste
• 2 tablespoons olive oil

Sort, rinse and then place lentils and water in a small to medium-sized pot. Bring water to boil, reduce to simmer. Cook for 30 minutes or until tender. Once it has finished cooking, drain and rinse with cold water.

Sorting dry lentils

In a medium to large-sized mixing bowl start combining your ingredients as you prepare them.

First, add your garbanzos. Normally I like to cook these at home, but I was lazy this time and just grabbed a can of organic. Make sure you drain and rinse them if you use a can (if you rinse, it will remove the excess salt it may have been packed with, reducing the sodium you’ll intake).

Organic garbanzo beans

Chop your tomatoes.

Chopping up a couple of tomatoes

Chop your green onions, making sure to discard any wilted or damaged parts.

Beautiful green onions get chopped

Chop your green, yellow and red peppers. You can use just one color if you prefer, but each has a subtle, yet unique flavor all its own.

Green pepper goes next

Just half of this one is needed, but you can do the whole thing, too, if you want

Then finally the red pepper

Juice a lime straight into the bowl with the other ingredients.

Quick tip – I don’t show this in the picture, but if you turn the lime the other way (upside down), you can squeeze more juice out of it more easily.

Juicing a lime

Chop up some fresh cilantro.

Chop fresh cilantro

Add the lentils to the bowl if you haven’t already, then about half a teaspoon to a teaspoon of salt and the olive oil.

Ready to mix

Stir well, then chill for about 20 minutes, as you want to serve it cold.

Ready to serve

This is great on the first day, but I found that if it sat overnight, it got really watery. Best to serve and eat on the day you make it, but it’s still good if you want to save it for later.

I would also say that I would probably want to add another chile or two just to increase the kick a bit, and if you’re wanting to save calories, you can skip out on the olive oil. I forgot to add it until the end, and it tasted just fine without it.

A bite full of flavor and color!

What is your favorite salad?

Just your basic hummus

This is another post in the Frugal Eats series, meant to help you save money in the kitchen.

First off, a confession – I am not a big fan of hummus. But more specifically, I am not a fan of bland hummus. It has to have flavor, preferably through the incorporation of lots of fresh garlic, and it has to be as smooth as possible, meaning it should spend some quality time in the food processor. Hummus overall, though, has grown on me over the last year or two. It used to be that I disliked it entirely, but my husband has made some good batches, and I’m learning how to improve it each time I make it, too.

Even though I still have to perfect hummus, I can tell you that if you’re looking for a good base recipe, this is it. It is also super cheap to make, which is a bonus for both hummus lovers and recession haters alike. The most expensive ingredient is tahini (if you use it – there are hummus recipes out there that do not use tahini), and olive oil which is optional.

Basic Hummus
This recipe makes about four cups of hummus. If thinned, it will yield a larger batch.

• 2 cups dried chickpeas or garbanzos (this is the same thing)
• Lemon juice from 1 or 2 lemons
• 2 tablespoons tahini
• 2-4 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
• 2 teaspoons salt or to taste
• Paprika (optional)
• Olive oil (optional)

Sort and rinse the dried chickpeas, and place in a large pan and cover with water about an inch or inch and a half above the chickpeas.

Chickpeas, also known as garbanzos

Boil on the stove for approximately two minutes, then turn off the heat and let it sit for two hours. (Alternatively, you can soak the chickpeas overnight. Boiling just speeds up the process if you want to make a batch the same day that you use them in a recipe or meal.)

Boiling chickpeas for two minutes

After the two hours is up, drain and rinse the chickpeas, then put them back on the stove and cover with about an inch of water and let simmer for two or two and a half hours on low to medium heat. You will want to check it periodically to see if you need to add more water, but if you keep a lid on your pan your water should not boil away as fast. Alternatively, if you have a slow cooker, you can put the chickpeas in there and let them simmer for two and a half hours on high.

Cooking the chickpeas or garbanzos in a slow cooker

Once the chickpeas are finished cooking they should be tender. Drain and rinse them and put them into a food processor and start to blend.

Starting to blend the chickpeas

You’ll want to blend for a couple of minutes, but it will be difficult to get everything well blended at this point. Add in the juice of one or two lemons, and blend again.

Adding in lemon juice

Add the tahini and salt, and blend some more.

In case you have never used sesame tahini before, it resembles peanut butter, but I’ll warn you – it is very bitter, so I wouldn’t recommend using it on its own outside of recipes. Unless you like bitter. A lot.

Sesame tahini

Add in the fresh garlic and blend until smooth.

Adding some garlic to the food processor

You’ll find that the hummus is quite thick at this point, so I would advise taste testing and determining if you should add more lemon juice. You may also want to add just ordinary water to thin it out, but I wouldn’t do more than a few tablespoons at a time. You don’t want the hummus to be runny, but neither do you want it to be too thick.

I would also recommend dividing this into a couple of batches and playing around with adding spices and other flavors. Of course, if you like just plain hummus then you can serve with a little paprika and olive oil on top, and provide raw vegetables, chips or pita to dip. You can also use hummus as an alternative to vegan mayonnaise on sandwiches.

Fresh hummus served with paprika and olive oil

Like I said in the beginning of this post, this is very inexpensive to make. If you find that you rely on store-bought hummus you will discover that you will save yourself a lot of money if you make your own. Not convinced? Let’s price it out. (Note that I am using grocery store prices from stores which list their prices online. You won’t necessarily pay the same price for the hummus you purchase, so this should be used as a general guide for how much money you may be able to save if you were to make your own hummus. My apologies if my math is wrong. I was the kid who cried in math class because it just didn’t make sense to me.)

So let’s say that you typically purchase either an 8-ounce container of plain or classic hummus or a larger 16-ounce container. You could be spending anywhere from $3.99 for the small to $8.99 for the large, and if you buy some of the other flavors, the price could fluctuate. But instead, you decide to purchase a 16-ounce bag of dried chickpeas for $1.65, and a 16-ounce jar of tahini for $11.15. You also choose to purchase lemons which can run for about $0.33 a piece. We’ll assume that you already have olive oil, salt and paprika on hand, and I won’t include the price of garlic since it is typically inexpensive. How much could you save if you made it instead of purchasing it at the store?

In this particular price breakdown you are spending 495% more for 16 ounces and 418% more for 8 ounces if you purchase it at the store vs. making it at home. Add up how frequently you purchase hummus and you’ll see how beneficial making it at home could be for your budget. I admit that we still purchase hummus from time to time, so we still pay more than we ought to, but if we have the time and the ingredients we almost always prefer to make it ourselves.

Do you make your own hummus? Do you have a favorite way of making it?