A spicy lentil pasta dish that is quick and easy to make.

Have you ever wondered what a lentil plant looks like? The picture shows that it is similar to a pea plant, with white, yellow or pale blue flowers. These produce a pod containing one or two seeds that become the lentils we eat.

Ingredients

  • 1 medium onion
  • 2 sticks of celery
  • 1 large carrot
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 1 cup of red split lentils
  • 2 cups vegetable stock
  • 1 lemon
  • 1 teaspoon chile pepper flakes
  • Pasta of your choice

Method

  1. Roughly chop the onion, celery and carrot
  2. Gently heat the olive oil in a large stock pot
  3. Add the onion, celery and carrot and fry on medium heat
  4. When the vegetables begin to brown, stir in the chili flakes and fry for a further couple of minutes
  5. Add 1 cup of red lentils and 2 cups of water
  6. Bring to the boil and simmer gently for about 20 minutes
  7. Add pasta to boiling water and cook for 10 minutes until ‘al dente’
  8. If the lentil mixture begins to dry out, add more hot water gradually
  9. Grate the zest from the lemon
  10. When the lentils are soft and mushy, stir in the lemon zest and cook for a few more minutes
  11. Drain the pasta
  12. Serve the spicy lentil sauce over the pasta

Serves 2-3

If you have any sauce leftover, why not make soup with it for lunch the next day? Just add some water and heat gently in a saucepan for a delicious, warming broth.

Green Fact: lentils have one of the lowest carbon footprints of any food at just 0.9 tons of greenhouse gas emissions per kilo compared to 39.2 tons for beef.