Lentil Salad

This lentil salad is bursting with bright flavor and great texture, offering a good amount of protein and also being simple to make.

Course Salad, Side Dish

Cuisine Mediterranean

Diet Gluten Free, Vegan

Prep Time 8

Cook Time 30

Servings

Calories 418

Author Timothy Pakron

Ingredients

1 pound French green lentils plus water and salt
3 bay leaves dried or fresh
1 small strip kombu optional
2 tablespoons olive oil plus more to taste
Flaky sea salt or Fleur de sel, to taste
2 teaspoons tamari
1½ cups diced celery
1½ cups diced carrots
2 cups fresh parsley roughly chopped
1 cup fresh dill* roughly chopped
2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
3 tablespoons sherry vinegar or red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon fresh thyme* optional
1 tablespoon dijon mustard optional
Big pinch red pepper flakes less or more, to taste
1 small shallot minced
½ cup toasted sunflower seeds plus more to taste (optional)

Instructions

Soak the lentils: Add the lentils to a medium to large bowl and cover with a few inches of water on the counter overnight. At this time, pick out any suspicious lentils.
Cook the lentils: When ready to cook, drain the lentils, giving the water to potted plants, and transfer the lentils to a medium pot. Add a big pinch of salt, the bay leaves, and kombu. Cover with a few inches of water, mix well, and cook the lentils over high heat until at a boil. Once boiling, remove the bay leaves and kombu and strain off any white foam. Reduce the heat to medium-low and cook until tender. This should take around 10-15 minutes, if that. Once done, drain the liquid off (you can keep this as a great broth).
Toss and season the lentils: Add the drained lentils to large bowl. Drizzle over the 2 tablespoons olive oil, tamari, a few cracks of black pepper, and a pinch of sea salt. Mix well and taste. Add more salt and pepper, until the lentils are seasoned nicely.
Mix in the other ingredients: To the bowl of seasoned lentils, add the celery, carrots, parsley, dill, nutritional yeast, vinegar, thyme (or other woody herb), mustard (if using), red pepper flakes, and shallot. Mix well. Give it a taste and add more olive oil and sea salt until the salad tastes balanced and delicious. You are in control here, so make your friends proud!
Serve the salad: To serve, transfer some of the salad to a bowl and garnish with more fresh herbs, if desired, along with the toasted sunflower seeds, if using. A final drizzling of cold-pressed olive oil and a little flaky salt is always welcome!

Notes

If you would prefer to skip the dill, add an additional cup of chopped parsley to the salad.

If you don't have fresh thyme, you could use other woody herbs like oregano or rosemary. If you don't have the fresh variety of these, you could also used their dried counterparts but I would pull it back to just 1 teaspoon and makes sure to crush it up with your fingers before sprinkling into the salad.

Nutrition