Salad w/ Ethiopian Lentils & Sautéed Spinach
Ethiopian lentils and sautéed spinach are incredibly delicious staples. They can be eaten individually or incorporated into other meals. I'm fond of having them alongside injera. However, that requires fermenting teff and I don't always want to do that. So, turning Ethiopian dishes into more of a salad makes more practical sense sometimes. Because sometimes being a lazy cook is also delicious!
Equipment
- Food Processor
- Stovetop
- Sauté Pan
Ingredients
Ethiopian Lentils
- 1 c. calabaza squash roasted & puréed
- 1 habanero
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1 tsp. turmeric fresh
- 1/4 c. red onion diced
- 1 tbsp. coconut oil
- 1 c. red lentils
- dash cloves whole
- dash coriander whole
- dash cumin whole
- dash fenugreek whole
- dash salt
- dash pepper
Sauté Spinach
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1 tsp. ginger fresh, roughly chopped
- 1/4 yellow onion roughly chopped
- 1 lbs. spinach (~3 cups)
- dash cumin
- dash coriander
- dash salt
- dash pepper
- 1/4 c. olive oil
Instructions
Roast Calabaza Squash
- I used Roasted Calabaza Squash in this recipe. This takes a couple of hours and requires a calabaza (or other squash or pumpkin of choice) as well as aluminum foil and a baking dish.
Ethiopian Lentils
- Add calabaza squash, habanero, and garlic to a food processor. Purée for 30 seconds, or until smooth.When I roasted the calabaza squash, I puréed half of it and froze the rest whole. If you puréed all of it, simply skip this step and mince the habanero and garlic. I just puréed them all together to saved time, but it isn't necessary! The flavor profile will be the same, either way.
- Add all of the ingredients for the lentils to a rice cooker (squash purée with habanero and garlic, turmeric, red onion, coconut oil, spices, salt, pepper, lentils, and water).
- Grind whole cloves, coriander, cumin, and fenugreek in a mortar and pestle.A lot of the time I prefer whole spices and grinding them in a mortar and pestle. I used whole cloves, coriander, cumin, and fenugreek. You can easily substitute ground spices and mix and match whatever you have on hand.
- Press the cook button on the rice cooker. While lentils aren't rice, it does cook the same and oftentimes better than rice in a rice cooker. It typically takes 30-45 minutes.
- When the lentils is fully cooked, fluff with a wooden spoon.Do not use a fork or other metal utensil. It will scratch off the nonstick surface on the rice cooker. This will leach teflon into your food and cause future dishes to stick to the bottom!
Sauté Spinach
- While the lentils are cooking, add garlic, ginger, and yellow onion to a food processor. Pulse a couple of times until roughly chopped.
- Add spinach, a few handfuls at a time, and pulse until roughly chopped. Continue adding handfuls of spinach and pulsing until all of the spinach is incorporated.
- Add spinach mixture, cumin, coriander, salt, pepper, and olive oil (all of the ingredients) to a sauté pan.
- Bring to medium-heat and cook until wilted, about 7-10 minutes. Make sure to stir occasionally to keep the spinach from burning.
Prepare Salad
- Spread sautéed spinach across a plate and top with lentils. If you're making them back-to-back, served hot is great. I've also had them chilled or room temperature as more of a traditional salad.
Tips, Tricks, & Notes
-
If you're just looking for a side dish, this is a great recipe to follow. I have more in-depth articles solely dedicated to make them: Lentils w/ Calabaza Squash & Coconut Oil and Sautéed Spinach w/ Garlic & Ginger.
- Both Ethiopian lentils and sautéed spinach are great to make ahead of time. They keep and reheat well. I'll reheat in a pan on the stove or in a small dish in the air fryer.
- You can also mix and match what you eat them with. Ethiopian lentils and sautéed spinach work well and are more traditionally consumed more as a salad or side dish. I tossed in some cherry tomatoes and the poached salmon that I made last week for a Salad with Wine Poached Salmon, Ethiopian Lentils, & Sautéed Spinach. Feel free to mix and match for what you have on hand!