Spiced lentil bowls 2.0.

We know, we already have a similar lentil recipe for healthy lunch bowls, but since we can’t come up with anything original just like that (snapped our fingers), this new lunch / dinner idea will get the 2.0. treatment. It’s called creativity at its finest. Though, also, this recipe is for SPICED lentil bowls. A?? Get it? That’s a big difference. Because we’ll add some chili powder and thinly chopped fresh chilies to the lentils and everything will burn. We know how to win people over, don’t we? It will be satisfying, they’re actually not that spicy. Also, feel free to use mild peppers and paprika.

And there’s another difference. Here we paired the lentils with mushrooms. Something many people would consider a culinary crime. We'd be one of them if we knew how to use the word culinary. However, our desire to use up all the food we had bought from the veggie store is always stronger than our pride and prejudice for how ingredients would work together. So, this recipe was born and surprise: the spiced lentil bowls tasted good, turned out incredibly nutritious and we used up the two mushrooms we had bought 4 days ago. Now we're proud, but not prejudiced anymore.

The recipe makes two servings, so if you’d like to make some more, make sure to adjust it. Cooking these might look like a big undertaking, but the bowls are pretty simple to make when you have cooked lentils.

These spiced lentil bowls are filling, satisfying, naturally rich in fiber, protein folate, iron and magnesium. All things that your body wants to use! And they’re gluten-free and vegan as well.

Now, let’s see what we have here:

Spiced Lentil Bowls Ingredients

There are three different “parts”:

Lentils. As mentioned we had cooked lentils, mushrooms and other vegetables. So we decided to bring them together and use them as the “meat” or protein source of the recipe.

Salad Base. Lately we've been trying to up our raw vegetable intake, so we made a huge salad and used it as the bed for these lentils. Lentils don’t like laying on hard and cold surfaces like plates or bowls. They need some cushion. That’s why you either use them in soups or lay them on a bed of roses or salad as we learned a long time ago from Bon Jovi.

Tzatziki and Avocado. There aren’t many occasions when we skip eating tzatziki. Avocado…meh, we could go without it. But tzatziki sauce is a must. We made the dairy-free version and even skipped the cucumber, but it was still there, filling the air with garlic.

How it comes together

To make these spiced lentil bowls you’ll need to have some cooked lentils before. We often make a batch ahead for the week and use it in different lentil recipes like these wraps or in soups. If you don’t have any, cook according to package instructions and continue with these steps. You’ll need drained, cooked lentils.

The first step is to make the things that are cold. We prefer eating our lentils warm, so let’s start with the salad and tzatziki and we’ll make the lentils next (this is a great opportunity to boil lentils if you don’t have any). So, wash and chop lettuce, cabbage, arugula, dill, red onion, radishes, parsley. Then toss with flax oil (or olive oil), lemon juice as well as salt and pepper to taste.

Additionally for the bowls, cut a cucumber, an avocado, some more red onion and prepare the tzatziki. If you don’t feel like soaking cashews, you can also just mix (vegan) yogurt, garlic and salt or use whichever garlic-based sauce you like.

Now for the lentils. Chop the mushrooms, onion, carrots and chili pepper, parsley and mince the garlic. Then saute the mushrooms with onion and olive oil. Add in the mint, chili powder, thinly chopped chili pepper and the carrot. Stir for 2-3 minutes until there’s no water coming out of the mushrooms (if there is any).

Then add in the cooked lentils, parsley and garlic. Make sure to not over-stir, otherwise the tender lentils will get mushy. Lastly, add salt and pepper to taste and turn off after 2-3 minutes.

Assemble the bowls with salad as the base, then lentils, tzatziki, cucumber, olives, red onion and avocado.

Enjoy immediately!