Beluga Lentils

 

Preparation time: less than one hour

Preparation You'll need: A small pot A fine sieve
Ingredients (for 2 people) 100 g Beluga lentils 1 normal vine tomato 1 small onion (chopped for 2 tsp) Some olive oil for frying (or sunflower oil) 200 mL vegetable stock a few sprigs of parsley 1/3 TL Cumin seeds 1 bay leaf Some salt and pepper Some garden cress, approx. 1 Tbsp. 2-3 tsp balsamic vinegar
First steps (approx. 15 minutes) Rinse 100 g Beluga lentils with a fine sieve. Place in a small bowl on the side. Grind approx. 1/3 tsp fresh cumin seeds in a mortar. Leave in the mortar, add 1 bay leaf. Rinse the tomato and cut into quarters (you do not usually need to remove the skin from the rather thin-skinned truss tomatoes). Remove the seeds, only the flesh of the walls is needed. Cut into small pieces, separate roughly into two halves. One half can be used for cumin in a mortar, the other half simply on its side in a small bowl. Rinse approx. 1 Tbsp garden cress and cut into a small bowl with scissors. Rinse, pluck and roughly chop 3 or 4 stalks of parsley. You will need approx. 3 Tbsp. Peel 1 small onion and chop finely. You will need approx. 2 Tbsp.
Cooking (approx. 30-35 minutes) Heat a little simple olive oil in a small pot and sauté the onion until translucent, then add the mixture from the mortar (tomato/cumin/leaf of bay leaf), stir well. Simmer for 3 minutes, then deglaze with 200 mL vegetable stock, bring to the boil briefly. Add lentils, reduce heat to low, cover and simmer for 25-30 minutes. The lentils should be "al dente" at the end :-). Just before the end of the cooking time, add the remaining half of the tomatoes and the garden cress. Finally, add the parsley and season with 2 or even 3 teaspoons of balsamic vinegar.