I wanted to make a vegan version of my spiced carrot, feta and almond salad for my lovely friend, Tamsin.
As I love the earthy richness of beluga lentils, I thought they would be a good addition (and even better, you can buy them pre-cooked too!).
The cucumber and onion add a nice freshness to the dish, but what makes it, is the delicious pomegranate molasses salad dressing!
Serves 4 as a starter
For the salad:
500g carrots
2 tablespoons of olive oil
½-1 tablespoon of cumin seeds
1-2 teaspoons of ground cumin
½ cucumber
½ red onion
250g pack of pre-cooked beluga lentils
Handful of flaked almonds
Rocket or salad leaves
For the dressing:
2 tablespoons of red wine vinegar
3 tablespoons of pomegranate molasses
1 tablespoon of Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon of honey
6-10 tablespoons of olive oil
Seasoning
Method
- Pre-heat the oven to 200c.
- Place the flaked almonds on a roasting tray and cook in the oven until they start to turn golden brown. Remove from the oven and cool.
- Peel the carrots and cut into long pieces (as per photo).
- Spread the carrots over the bottom of a baking tray and sprinkle over the cumin seeds, ground cumin and olive oil. Mix well so that the carrots are coated in the oil and cumin.
- Place in the hot oven and roast for 25-30 minutes, until they start to colour.
- Whilst the carrots are roasting, place all the dressing ingredients into a jug and mix well to combine.
- Dice the cucumber and finely slice the red onion.
- Open the pack of beluga lentils,
- Arrange the salad leaves on the plates, and scatter over the cucumber, red onions and lentils.
- Arrange the carrots on top of the salad and sprinkle over a handful of toasted almonds.
- Pour over the dressing and serve.
