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You guys, I have a new obsession:
Lentils!
Aside from having lentils in a stew or soup I haven’t experienced them very much until I recently began playing around with them. Let me tell you, there is so much more to lentils than just soup.
One of the reasons I am really enjoying lentils is because they are the perfect way to incorporate a vegetarian or a vegan meal into your diet. Just 1 cup of cooked lentils contains 18 grams of protein, 16 grams of dietary fiber, along with magnesium, Vitamin B-6, and Iron. Plus they are very low in fat. I am not vegan but every now and then it feels great to eat a complete plant-based meal.
Okay, it’s also because sometimes I get lazy and don’t want to cook meat. Let’s be honest, cooking meat takes more effort than boiling up some lentils. Plus the lentils are just as filling and satisfying as meat.
One more quick thing about lentils before we dive into how wonderful this salad is.
The only bummer about lentils is their traditional cooking time of 30 to 45 minutes. Although that’s really not thaaat long, sometimes you have a busy night and don’t want to spend 45 minutes cooking lentils for dinner. Or you’re like me and have been spending half of your day in the kitchen cooking up recipes for your food blog and you don’t have much dinner-type food because you’ve made a co*cktail or a brownie that week for the blog, but you still need dinner (oh, the charmed life of a food blogger).
How to speed up the cook time for your lentils? Simple, pre-soak them! Yes, all you need to do is place the lentils in a bowl with water and set them on your counter for 1 to 8 hours (or overnight). Seriously, depending on how long you soak your lentils, and how old they are you could cook them for only 10 minutes!
GASP, only 10 minutes? I was impressed and shocked too! I just saved you up to 35 minutes of time, you’re welcome.
There is one other teensy weensy reason to soak your lentils. They are easier to digest when they have been soaked, which means no more dreaded bloating and embarrassing farts—ahem, I mean GAS, no more gas—that’s right, I said it.
So pre-soak your lentils. It’s a time saver and a tummy saver. SCORE!
Enough about lentils and bloating. On to the recipe, the real reason you are here.
I thought up this salad on a cold, rainy day. I wanted something full of veggies, yet warming. We ended up eating this salad at room temperature on a gorgeous springtime day. Warm or cold, either way it’s delicious, and I know you will love it!
This salad is filling and hearty. The kale is chewy, the warm sweet potatoes are soft and sweet, the warm lentils are tender and comforting, and the pistachios are crunchy and salty.
And the dressing—it is quite possibly my favorite part of the salad, sorry, lentils—it is rich and creamy. Slightly bitter from the tahini paste with plenty of lemon to add freshness and dill to add depth. I almost ate all of the dressing before putting it on the salad.
I’m so glad I saved it for the salad because the combo of a creamy dill dressing, sweet potatoes, lentils, and pistachios are insanely good together.
Between the high protein and fiber in the lentils and the protein and healthy fats of the tahini dressing and pistachios, this salad holds you over for hours without any animal protein. If you are a vegan, or simply want to incorporate a few vegan meals into your stash of recipes this one is for you.
Happy lentil cooking and salad eating, my friends!
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- Author: Emily Koch
- Prep Time: 15 mins
- Cook Time: 20 mins
- Total Time: 35 mins
- Yield: 4 1x
- Category: Salad
- Cuisine: Vegan, Gluten-Free
Description
This vegan salad is packed with protein from the lentils and creamy dill-tahini dressing. The sweet potatoes add the perfect amount of sweetness. The salad will keep you satisfied for hours.
Ingredients
UnitsScale
- FOR THE SALAD:
- 1 cup uncooked green or brown lentils that have been soaked for at least 1 to 8 hours* (see notes)
- 2 cups filtered water
- 1 large sweet potato (preferably organic), washed
- 1 tablespoon grapeseed oil
- Sea salt and pepper
- 1 bunch kale, stemmed and chopped (could also use spinach)
- Juice of 1/2 lemon
- Sea salt and pepper
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 1/2 cup to 3/4 cup roasted, salted pistachios, shelled
- FOR THE DRESSING:
- 1/2 cup tahini paste (sesame butter)
- 2 to 3 cloves garlic, minced
- Juice of 1 lemon
- 3 to 4 sprigs fresh dill fronds (or 2 teaspoons dried dill)
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 1/4 cup filtered water (or more to thin)
- Sea salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- FOR THE SALAD:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Drain and rinse the lentils that have been soaking. Place them into a medium-sized stew pot along with the 2 cups filtered water. Cover and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer. Allow to simmer for 10 to 15 minutes, or until the lentils are tender but not mushy.
- If you didn’t soak your lentils very long, or if they are older, they may take longer to cook, around 20 to 30 minutes. If the lentils begin to dry out as they cook then add more water a little at a time until the lentils are cooked. Usually they soak up all of the water, but when I pre-soaked them they did not soak up much of the cooking water at all. If a lot of the cooking liquid is left then simply drain the lentils. Place them back into the pot, remove from the heat and place the lid on the lentils to help keep them warm if there is some waiting time before the salad is ready to assemble.
- While the lentils are cooking prepare your sweet potato. If your sweet potato is not organic then peel the skin. If it’s organic then skip the peeling step and simply cube the sweet potato into 1 inch pieces. Place the cubed sweet potato onto a large rimmed baking sheet along with the grapeseed oil and salt and pepper. Stir to combine.
- Roast the sweet potatoes for 20 minutes, flipping them halfway through. They should be fork-tender.
- While the sweet potato is cooking prepare your kale. Place the stemmed and chopped kale in a mixing bowl. Add juice of ½ lemon, olive oil, and salt and pepper. Use your hands to message the kale a few times. Set aside. This process helps tenderize raw kale. (SKIP THE LEMON AND OLIVE OIL MASSAGING STEP IF USING SPINACH).
- FOR THE DRESSING:
- In the bowl of a food processor add the tahini paste, minced garlic, lemon juice, dill, olive oil, and ¼ cup filtered water. Process until well combined, scrape down sides and process again.
- Season with salt and pepper to taste and process until well combined. Add more water a tablespoon at a time, just until the dressing is pourable. It should be thick; this dressing will cling to your kale, yet it should be able to run off your spoon.
- In a large salad bowl combine the kale, warm lentils and warm sweet potatoes. Drizzle with dressing as desired and sprinkle with the pistachios.
- Due to the heartiness of this salad leftovers will hold up fairly well with the dressing, but the ingredients are best stored separately and combined and dressed just before eating. If using spinach, however, the leftovers will not hold up at all after the spinach has been dressed.
- This salad is equally delicious with the lentils and sweet potatoes served cold.
Notes
*I recently learned that it is important to soak lentils before we cook them. There is an enzyme in the lentil that makes it difficult for our bodies to digest. Soaking them in cold water for at least 1 hour or up to 8 hours (overnight) helps to break down that enzyme. A bonus is that soaking the lentils considerably reduces their cooking time from 30-45 minutes to 10-15 minutes! Of course, the time may vary depending on how long you soak your lentils and how old they are. Read more about why we should soak our lentils here.
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