Tunisian lentil, chickpea and pumpkin casserole

In an attempt to warm myself up from the inside out earlier in the week, I made this comforting veggie casserole. The recipe is inspired by a recipe in the Maza gourmet foods recipe book. Although they sell spice mixes, I prefer to make my own with the spices in my pantry, googling spice blend recipes and experimenting. I have a few different spice mixes written down in my recipe scrap books now I used all the time, including my own taco mix blend.

I did however buy a jar of preserved lemons from the Maza foods market stall at the Rendelsham village market in February.

Tunisian spice mix 

3 Tablespoons ground coriander
1 1/2 Tablespoons ground cumin
1 Tablespoon caraway seeds
1 Tablespoon sweet paprika
1/2 Tablespoon smoked paprika
2 pinches cayenne pepper

Mix all together. Place in a clean jar, label and keep in the pantry. There's enough of the spice mix to make the following recipe twice. Other than than it's good to use from savoury beef mince to sprinkle over veggies before baking.

How to make Lentil, chickpea and pumpkin casserole

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 onion, finely chopped
3 tablespoons Tunisian spice mix
2 cloves garlic, finely grated
2 cups pumpkin, about 1cm cubes
2 cups water
1 can of crushed tomatoes
1 can of chickpeas
2 cans brown lentils
chopped parsley
half a preserved lemon, washed and chopped finely.


Heat oil over a medium heat and cook onion until soft. Add spice mix and garlic and heat through the spices, while stirring. After a minute, add a little water, a tablespoon, so the spices don't burn.

Add pumpkin, stir, then tomatoes and finally water. Bring to a boil.

Add chickpeas and lentils, stir to combine. Simmer uncovered for about 15 minutes or until the pumpkin is soft and is nice and saucy.

Stir through preserved lemon and parsley.

I like it served with a dollop of natural yogurt and sprinkled with fresh herbs, like parsley, mint or coriander.

Joining Leanne for #lovinglife

Persian spiced veggies with lentils

I like to share my food on instagram. I just like to share my food! 

I am one of those weird people who sit down, take a photo, then proceed to eat, whilst instafaceytweeting what's on my plate.

Some people don't get it and sometimes I let that sway me. But in the end, I like to do it, so I keep posting.  I thought I would push it further and overshare here with how I make it. 

This spice mix is in my pantry. I use it to sprinkle on my veggies before I bake them for lunch some days.

Persian spice
2 teaspoon cinnamon
2 teaspoon nutmeg
2 teaspoon ground rose petals*
2 teaspoon cardamom
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon coriander

Mix all together and store in an airtight jar or plastic container in the pantry.

*I find the smelliest roses I have, take a couple of handfuls of the petals and place them on a baking tray. Dry them in a slow oven until they are dry, then crush them up. If you're not into eating your garden,  you can buy edible rose petals online or in specialty food delis, or just leave it out.

Baharat spice mix is good to use if you want instead of the persian spice.

Vegetables of choice, such as - pumpkin, sweet potato, eggplant, onion, garlic, beetroot, zucchini, capsicum. 
1 tin lentils, drained and rinsed**
half a tablespoon of persian spice
Olive oil

Chops veggies into 2cm cubes. Coat with olive oil and persian spice in a baking tray. Season with salt and pepper.

Bake in the oven at 200 for 15 - 20 minutes.

Tip and mix in a can of lentils, put back in the oven for another five minutes to warm through.

Serve as a warm salad with feta cheese and fresh herbs. I've used greek yogurt and mint in the photo above. 

**Instead of lentils, you could go in with whatever you like, brown rice, couscous, chick peas or quinoa. 

I've also made this with squash, pumpkin, sweet potato, onion and garlic. Instead of the spice blend, just used mixed dried herbs, salt, pepper and olive oil. Baked for 15 minutes, add the lentils for 5 minutes and served with greek yogurt and basil pesto. So yum!

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Lentil soup from leftovers

There is one thing that my family know. If there's any left over meat from a pork roast, the next day they'd be getting fried rice. It's my favourite go to recipe for pork leftovers.

There is a new thing, they will too, come to know. 

After a roast chook, they can bet their bottom dollar, there will be chickeny lentil soup on the stove the next day!

You will need:

1 leftover roast chook carcass. If there is stuffing, remove it. 

Place chicken carcass in a large saucepan, and if there is any left over meat chuck that in too. Add in a couple of litres of water.

Cover and simmer for half an hour. Remove carcass and any meat and let cool. Pick any meat that is still on the bones into a bowl, cover with cling wrap and put in the fridge. Put the stock in the fridge too.

The next day, strain the liquid into a bowl.  You will need about 6 cups for the soup. Freeze any leftover chicken stock for something else. More soup, or rice, whatevs.

Lentil Soup

1 tablespoon oil
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 onion, chopped finely
2 celery stalks, chopped finely
1 375 gram packet of green lentils, rinsed and drained
6 cups of chicken stock.
handful of fresh parsley, chopped 

Heat oil in a large saucepan, gently fry garlic, onion and celery for 5 minutes.
Add any chicken meat, stock, parsley and lentils. Season with pepper only. Do not add salt at this stage, it prevents the lentils from softening or something like that. It's a thing.
Bring to the boil, then simmer, covered, for 1 hour.

Season with salt to taste.

Eat.

.....oOo.....

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