Spiced lentils with fresh spinach and ginger is so seriously good you won’t believe it’s an easy, healthy, vegetarian meal! Spinach, onions, jalapeno and tomatoes are sauteed with fresh ginger, then folded into Indian spiced lentils. Now this is meatless Monday inspiration!
Spiced Lentils with Fresh Spinach and Ginger:
Spiced lentils with fresh spinach and ginger! As you can tell by the exclamation point, I’m pretty excited about these lentils. It is both a simple and a special dish and I can’t get enough of it. This is a perfect dish for meatless Mondays, or any day of the week for that matter. The combination of the Indian inspired spices, fresh veggies and ginger with the tender lentils is perfect (and good for you – bonus!). The whole dish comes together in 30 minutes, so it’s ideal for weeknight dinners.
Ingredients:
I used yellow mung beans for this dish, which are a lentil shaped legume. If you have an Asian market near you, you will find a huge variety of the yellow mung beans to choose from. But the smaller orange lentils you can find in any grocery store work too!
The fresh veggies are key in this recipe. The spinach, tomato, onion, jalapeno and ginger add a burst of flavor and freshness to the cooked lentils that you won’t believe. I mean it, you will take a bite and say, I can’t believe this! In a good way.
Of course you’ll need some spices too! I work with the most wonderful woman who is originally from India and she helped me with this part. She also made it clear that garlic should NOT be added to this dish, so word to the wise. The garlic will overwhelm the other spice notes. You’ll add turmeric (SO good for you!) and a little cayenne pepper to the lentils as they simmer. Then you’ll also add cumin seeds to the oil that you saute your fresh veggies in.
Preparation:
Speaking of sauteing, you’ll do that as the lentils are simmering. Start by adding oil and butter to your pan. When the butter has melted, you’ll add the cumin seeds and stir them around for 30 seconds or so. By doing this, you’ll “bloom” the flavor right out of those seeds!
Next you’ll add the onions and jalapeno, the veggies that take the longest to soften. Finally, add the tomatoes, ginger and fresh spinach and saute until the spinach wilts, another few minutes. This mixture is called the “tempering” in Indian cuisine and the magical part happens when you mix it into the lentils just before serving.
Fresh ginger is a key ingredient here and if you haven’t worked much with it before, peeling it is really easy when you use a teaspoon and scrape the skin off. This also keeps most of the ginger root intact. If you cut the peel off with a knife, you will lose some of the actual ginger root too. But do whatever works for you! Once you have the ginger peeled, grate it (watch your knuckles!), and add that ginger paste to the tempering. You can also mince it very finely if you want to keep a stronger ginger flavor in your lentils.
Let’s Eat!
These Spiced Lentils go perfectly with my Cumin Scented Rice. Both recipes feature cumin seeds as their main spice, so the cumin rice really rounds out the meal. I like to make a batch of the lentils and the rice on Sunday, and then have it for lunch during the week. It’s a fresh, delicious, nutritious meal and the leftovers heat up really well. Give it a try, you’re going to love spiced lentils with fresh spinach and ginger!
So good!
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Spiced Lentils with Fresh Spinach and Ginger
- Cook Time: 30 mins
- Total Time: 30 mins
- Yield: 6 1x
Description
Spiced lentils with fresh spinach and ginger is so seriously good you won’t believe it’s an easy, healthy, vegetarian meal! Spinach, onions, jalapeno and tomatoes are sauteed with fresh ginger, then folded into Indian spiced lentils. Now this is meatless Monday inspiration!
Ingredients
Lentils
- 1 1/2 cups yellow mung lentils or orange lentils
- 4 cups of water
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon turmeric
- 1/4 teaspoon cayenne red pepper
Tempering
- 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
- 1 cup of chopped yellow onion
- 1 jalapeno, seeds and stem removed, finely diced
- 2 inch piece of ginger, peeled and grated, about 2 teaspoons
- 1 cup fresh tomatoes, diced (2 Roma tomatoes work well)
- 3 cups of fresh spinach, chopped
Instructions
- Rinse lentils well in fine mesh strainer, add to a large, high sided pan with 4 cups of water, salt, turmeric and cayenne. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low, cover and simmer for 20-30 minutes until lentils are tender and starting to melt together.
- While the lentils are cooking prepare your ingredients for the tempering mixture and set them next to the stove.
- In another large sauté pan, heat the vegetable oil and butter over medium high heat. Add the cumin seeds and stir for 30 seconds, being careful to not burn them.
- Add the onion and jalapeno and sauté for 5 minutes to soften. Add the ginger, tomatoes and spinach and sauté for another 3-5 minutes. Remove from the heat.
- Once your lentils are done, add the tempering mixture and swirl in gently to combine. Serve immediately with rice.
