Spiced Lentil Salad with Winter Squash (Recipe #110)

When I first looked at this recipe, I thought that it was going to be okay. After my first bite, I immediately knew that this was a 10/10 recipe! I really enjoyed this salad recipe and I would make this again.

I think the special part about this recipe was how the lentils were cooked. I soaked them in warm salt water for about an hour. Then, I transferred the rinsed lentils to a pot of water with spices of cumin, coriander, cinnamon, ginger, and garlic---I sauteed the spices in oil before adding anything. I let them simmer on the stove for about an hour. The recipe calls for black lentils and cooks them in a pot in the oven, but I decided to use green lentils and cook them on the stove top. I overcooked the lentils, so next time that I make this, I would probably stop cooking them after 40 minutes. The rest of the dish was simple to put together. I roasted butternut squash, prepared a dressing, roasted pepitas, and prepared parsley leaves. The dressing was just oil, balsamic vinegar, and dijon mustard. Once the squash cooled for about 5 minutes after being out of the oven, I combined it in the bowl with the dressing and added everything else.

This was a more time consuming recipe, but one that you could do a step and walk away for a bit. I really enjoyed this salad. I love how the flavor of all of the spices came together and complemented each other. This salad even tasted a bit sweet and there was not any added sugar in it! I think the cinnamon helped give the dish a unique and almost sweet flavor. I really enjoyed this dish and so did Jacob! We were both surprised when I brought it to the table and how much we loved it. It doesn’t look like much, but it packs powerful flavor!

Taste: 10/10!

Level of difficulty: 1/5

Notes for next time: It says that it serves 4-6 without any side dishes, but I think it serves 2-3.