Ingredients
SERVES 4
– 300 g large lentils
– 12 fresh basil leaves – 9 chopped and 3 whole to garnish
– 1 big red onion chopped
– 2 tbsps. chives chopped
– 5 tbsps. EVO
– salt to taste
– black pepper to taste freshly ground
– 1 red hot chilli pepper chopped
– 10 cherry tomatoes cut into quarters
Directions
Fill a pot with abundant salted water and boil the lentils for ab. 30 minutes, turning the flame off when they are still “al dente” or crunchy. Then, drain and place them in a large bowl. In the meantime, in a much smaller bowl, prepare a dressing by mixing EVO, black pepper and salt. Then, add tomatoes, chives and onion to the lentils bowl also sprinkling the salad with chilli and basil leaves. Mix well. Season with the dressing, add more salt if necessary and mix again. Let it rest for 20-30 minutes in the fridge so that all flavours can well amalgamate. Garnish with basil leaves and serve.
As an alternative:
Raw onion can be sautéed along with some EVO and the lentils for a few minutes. If you opt for this choice please remember of letting the sautéed cool for a while before adding the rest of the ingredients.
Other recipes – Lentils