Lentils are by far my favourite legume. I was a horrible, picky child, so when I was finally allowed to give up meat as a teenager, I found I was faced with a conundrum: I thought beans were super-icky to the max. For serious. But the late 90s weren’t a stellar time for faux-meat products, so pretty soon I was forced to bite the proverbial pulse and try beans on for size.
As a child, the only time I was really exposed to beans was when my Mom or Dad made chilli, which was an ordeal in and of itself. Kidney beans? Ew. Ground beef? Blech. Green peppers? Kill me now. I spent the majority of supper combing through my bowl and sifting out the nasties, arranging them in an alternating pattern that served as a border encircling my now emaciated meal. So I knew kidney beans could not be my premier experience in my new veggie life, but what else was there? I was stumped.
When I reached the bean aisle I was awed! So much to choose from–it was downright overwhelming. Knowing what a wimp I was, I opted to start with the smallest looking bean first, so as not to shock my delicate system. And, thus began my love affair with lentils.
Lentils are crazy versatile, excellent in soups, stews, dahls, veggie burgers, “meat” loaves and salads. But they are also darn tasty on their own: many a meal for me in University consisted of mushed-up brown lentils on toast. Seriously, that is not as awful as it sounds! I swear! Lentils are high in protein, fibre and iron and are inexpensive and innocuous enough to feed the most suspicious of omnis.
So, go on now, show a little lentil love today!
Crispy Baked Lentil Spinach Pierogies
INGREDIENTS:
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 medium onion, chopped
-1 1/2 cups green cabbage, shredded
- 2 cups brown lentils, cooked or canned*
- 1 large potato , baked or microwaved, skin on
- 2 cups baby spinach leaves
- 1 cup veggie stock OR reserved cooking/canning liquid from lentils
- sea salt or smoked rock salt, to taste
- black pepper, to taste
- 1 package vegan dumpling/gyoza wrappers, or make your own dough**
- olive oil cooking spray
METHOD:
1. Sauté onion, cabbage and garlic in a little spritz of olive oil over medium-high heat for 5 or more minutes, until fragrant and soft.
2. Dice baked potato and mash with lentils, garlic, onions and cabbage, using a little broth or lentil liquid (that sounds odd…) until you get the consistency of very stiff mashed potatoes. Stir in spinach and seasonings.
Left handed mashing + right handed photo-taking? Awesome.
3. Preheat oven to 375ºF. Place about 2 tsp of filling in the centre of each dumpling wrapper or homemade dough circle. Moisten edges and fold over to seal.
4. Place sealed pierogies on parchment-lined baking sheets and spritz lightly with olive oil. Bake for 12 minutes, until golden and crispy. Serve with your favourite vegan gravy.
NOTES:
*I cook up a big batch of brown lentils in my pressure cooker and keep the extras around for recipes and snacking throughout the week. My parents just brought me back this chilli infused salt from Mexico and when I add it to the lentil cooking liquid, the end result is EXACTLY like Taste Adventure Curry Lentil Soup but about a gazillion times cheaper. So good.
**Check out my other pierogy recipe to find out how to make your own dough. But, even better, if you have a pasta machine, making your own pierogy dough could not be easier. Using a food processor outfitted with a dough blade or your strong, masculine hands, knead together 3 cups flour (of your choice) 2 tsp salt and enough water to make a smooth, not too sticky dough–about 1 1/4 cups, usually.
Check out my pretty little intern!
Then, feed dough through your pasta machine until you reach your desired thickness (I like setting 4 on the Marcato Atlas 150). Next use a 3-4″ diameter drinking glass or round cookie cutter to cut out your wrappers. Return excess to dough to the machine and repeat steps until you got a nice pile happening.
She works for wicked cheap.
***This recipe makes a whole heck of a lot. Like 45+. You can easily freeze some (unbaked) to save for another occasion or a quick snack later on.