Here is a delicious pâté we make sometimes for our evening snacks. Lentils are one of the top three healthiest legumes and red lentils are the healthiest of the lentils. If you whip some up, be sure to serve it with raw veggies like carrots, red peppers, and celery. We love this pâté because it tastes so good with blue corn chips! For a special treat, we eat this spread with local blue corn chips called Totopos made with quinoa, chia, and maca. If you sprinkle some paprika on it, you’d think you were eating a healthy Dorito!
Red Lentil Pâté
- ¾ cup red lentils, sorted and rinsed
- 1 ¼ cups water
- 1 bay leaf
- ½ medium onion, finely minced
- ¼ cup almonds, toasted, chopped and then ground finely in a food processor
- 1-2 garlic cloves, finely minced
- 2 tsp tomato paste
- ¾ tsp ground coriander
- ¼ tsp ground caraway seeds
- ½ tsp ground cumin
- ¾ tsp salt
- 1 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
In a 3-quart saucepan over medium heat, combine the lentils, water and bay leaf. Bring to boil. Reduce the heat to low, cover partially, and simmer for 30 minutes or until the lentils disintegrate and the water is mostly cooked off. It should resemble a very thick porridge when done.
While the lentils simmer, in a small, non-stick sauté pan, cook the onions and almonds for about 5-7 minutes, until the onion softens and is translucent. Stir in the garlic, tomato paste, coriander, caraway seeds, cumin and salt. Continue to sauté for 5 minutes. Stir in the lemon juice to deglaze the pan, scraping the pan to remove every last bit.
Combine the lentils with the mixture and stir until well mixed.
In a food processor, purée ¾ of the pâté until it is smooth. Mix this in with the remainder of the pâté.
Chill overnight and serve.
Serves 4
Gasshō,
Alex