Black lentil, citrus & mint salad is a simple, yet very flavorful and nutritious recipe is very quick and easy to make, requires less than 5 ingredients, is vegan and made of super-foods. The lemon/citrus zest is the secret magical ingredient in this recipe and just ¼ to ½ teaspoon will take the flavor and taste of this salad several notches high. The salad is rich in Protein, and vitamin-C, which can help boost immunity.
1qtyOrange or TangerineOptioinal. In case you have lemon, you can use that
½tablespoonOlive oilyou can use any oil in case you don't have olive oil
Instructions
Soak lentils.Soak black lentils for 2 hours (or more). This recipe can be made without soaking as well, but soaking really helps with digestion and helps it to cook fast.
Boil the lentils until el dente.Once soaked, wash the lentils well a couple of times with fresh wateer, and finally drain out the water.Bring 2-3 cups of water to a boil. Add ¼ teaspoon of salt and a couple of drops of oil. As mentioned in the ingredients section, add very little salt. Once the water boiling, add the washed lentils and cook it until it's soft, el dente but not mushy. Mine took only 7-8 minutes. Keep checking in between as you really don't want mushy lentils for this salad. Once it's done, drain out all the water.
Finely chop mint leaves.Very finely chop the mint leaves.
Zest the lemon. Using a lemon zester or grater, zest or grate only the top layer of the lemon and not the white pith that lies beneath it as that pith tastes bitter.
Char lemon/orange slices.Heat a griddle/pan. Slice the lemon or orange/tangerine. Put it on griddle and/pan let it caramelize until it gets a bit charred (black marks). Turn it on the other side. This process will take only 3-4 minutes. Is ok to leave the peels of lemon or orange on - these taste flavorful.
Assemble the salad.Put boiled lentils on a plate, add finely chopped mint leaves, lemon zest, 2 teaspoons of olive oil or other oil. Mix well. Add the charred lemon/orange slices on top of it. Enjoy!
Notes
This salad can be served either warm or cold. It tastes great either way.You can also add other salad greens/spinach etc. to this salad. If planning on adding other greens, make sure you keep the lentils separately if you. want to serve it warm - as you don't need to heat/re-heat the greens when re-heating the lentils.