Lentil Radish Salad

I live in Florida, and, enjoy it’s two seasons; hot in the wintertime and hotter in the summertime. This type of climate makes me crave salads, I’ve always considered them a summer dish. I don’t remember going to a restaurant in the middle of a snow storm to get a salad to warm me up. For that I would get butternut squash soup. Nope, salads are a warm weather dish. This lentil radish salad is all about something light on a hot day.

Lentils are a superfood. Domesticated over 10,000 years ago they have been a staple part of our diet since then. I wrote an entire post on the subject of lentils, and have a number of recipes on here with them in the ingredient list. However, these are all soups and stews. Turns out, the humble lentil is very versatile, not just as a dahl to be served over rice, but also can be added to a salad as a protein. Plant based proteins are healthy, and contain no cholesterol. And, for us omnivores, there’s no reason a little vegetarian shouldn’t be added to our diet.

As much as I’m a foodie and love to cook, I’m also a fan of simple. Sometimes I don’t feel like cooking for hours, just want to throw something together and serve. And, that’s the case with this particular dish. Simple can just be taking an existing recipe and swapping out an ingredient to make it different. Why not, I took a simple salad, added protein and made chicken and radish salad, so I’ll swap the protein and make this lentil salad.

Cooking lentils is not complicated, just don’t over cook them. Just like rice, add to water and boil. The ratio of lentils to water is 3:1. The cooking time is approximately 20 mins, they still need to hold their shape and have a little firmness for the salad. After about 20 mins, check for doneness, then, drain and rinse in cold water. The recipe only needs 1 cup of cooked lentils, although you could add more if you like. What I’m saying is that there’s going to be leftovers. Store the leftovers in manageable amounts, usually, 1 cup each, they’re good in the fridge for about a week, and frozen about 6 months. I use storage containers that are cheap and available online here.

The salad portion has lots of options depending on your taste and the availability of the ingredients. The biggest thing is to keep it simple. In this particular case I’m going to steal the salad portion of my chicken radish salad, because it works fine.

When I make a salad I like to dice everything fine, and, that requires some tools. A good kitchen knife, like this one, and a good chopping board, like this one. I prefer bamboo, it’s pretty durable, easy to clean, and, doesn’t absorb the juices from the meat, plus it’s more natural than plastic

Starting with the onion, in that recipe I sautéed the chicken in the onion and garlic then added that to the salad. I love caramelized onions, they’re so sweet. But here, I’ll dice them fine and add them raw, their flavor will add a little bite without a mouthful of onions. Next the pepper, again, diced small, cut into strips and then cut into small cubes.

When it comes to the tomatoes, I cut in half and remove the seeds, just leaving the outer flesh. It reduces the amount of liquid in the salad. Cuts back on some of the mushiness of leftovers. Cut into strips and then cut into small cubes. Radishes, because I love them. Cucumber, skin removed and cut into small slices. Then, cheese, because I love cheese. There are lot’s of options here, I use sharp cheddar, but blue cheese, goat cheese, feta cheese, or no cheese (diet dependent) works just fine.

Put everything in a bowl, add the lentils, a little coarse ground pepper, fresh cilantro (diced really fine) and the juice of a lime that will add the citrus note. This has now become my go to salad dressing. Serve and enjoy, thank you for reading.