Red Lentil "Paneer"

An extremely easy and versatile dish which can be eaten cold with salad, or in a curry sauce

Red Lentil “Paneer”

Ingredients:

350g Red Lentils

1 litre Boiling water

1 tsp. Coarse Sea Salt

½  tsp. Garlic Powder

½  tsp. Onion Powder

Method

Rinse the lentils until the water runs clear.

Place the lentils into a mixing bowl and cover them with the boiling water and leave them to soak for about an hour. Pour the mix into a blender add the salt, garlic powder and onion powder and zap until silky smooth. Spoon the mixture into a large saucepan and whisk on medium heat until the mixture starts to come to a boil, reduce the heat and continue whisking constantly (this is very important so the mix doesn’t catch on the bottom of the pan and burn!)   for another 5-10  minutes until the mixture resembles a very thick roux ( the whisk should stand up in the mixture unaided).

Spoon the mix into a 20 x 20 cm glass Pyrex oven dish spread the mix evenly and place in the fridge for a couple of hours to allow the mix to set. Once set, cut into cubes and use them just like you would paneer. Yum!     P.S. Just baked some of these in the oven for lunch, really tasty!

Put a layer of the chunks in an oven tray lined with baking paper. Drizzle with oil, sprinkle with sea salt and fresh ground black pepper. Bake in a fan oven preheated to 200C for 30 minutes turning once after 15 minutes. Serve with a dip of your choice (plenty of dips to choose from in “The Little Black Book of Dips and Dressings”!)

Red Lentil "Paneer" baked in the oven and a chilli dip