Mexican lentil bakes

I love Mexican flavours and I’ve been wanting to cook with lentils more often, so when I saw a recipe for Mexican lentil bakes from @healthylittlefoodies they looked like they fit the bill perfectly. I played around with the ingredients and quantities a bit and these were the result. They came out really well and Joshua loved them - he ate three in his first sitting. The ingredients I used were...

• - half a tin of kidney beans, drained

• - half a cup of red split lentils

• - half a red onion, finely chopped

• - half a red pepper, finely chopped

• - half a carrot, grated

• - half a courgette (zucchini), grated

• - one cup of low-salt stock

• - two eggs, lightly beaten

• - half a cup of grated cheese

• - one garlic clove, chopped or minced

• - handful of fresh coriander (cilantro), roughly chopped

• - half a tablespoon of tomato purée

• - 1 teaspoon paprika

• - half a teaspoon dried cumin

• - half a teaspoon dried oregano

To make...

• - cook the vegetables in a little oil in a pan for 10 minutes until soft

• - add the spices and stir for a further minute

• - add the lentils, stock and tomato purée and stir well - simmer for approximately 20mins, adding more stock or water as required until the lentils are cooked

• - mix in the kidney beans and leave to cool slightly

• - when slightly cooled stir in the eggs, cheese and fresh coriander

• - pour onto a greased oven-proof dish (I used my trusty silicone baking dish as it never sticks)

• - bake at 180’C for 30-40 minutes until the mix has set

• - leave to cool and then cut into wedges

These are great fresh, refrigerated or frozen.

I served them up with sweet potato mash and sliced tomatoes. Enjoy! x

#mexican #lentil