In a push to try and be as conscious of healthy eating as possible, I have been focusing my families dinners around the whole foods plant based lifestyle. Whole foods eating is free from anything processed and that includes oils and sugar, sounds like a challenge? Well, it wasn’t as bad as I thought and what resulted was delicious as a bonus.
I love a good cooking challenge so taking away a few common ingredients can certainly throw a wrench into dinner unless you know a few hacks!
- You can avoid oil completely and cook your onions and garlic in water, who knew?
- Did you know cinnamon is naturally sweet and can give your dish a hint of sweetness when you are craving a sugar fix?
- Combining tomatoes with cinnamon only brings out the sweetness of the tomato and creates a lovely ethnic flavour.
I was so pleased I wrote down this recipe when I created it because all six of my children loved it and asked for seconds! If you’re a parent you’ll appreciate a dinner that gets approval from all of the kids. Someone always has a complaint, but not this time!
I’d love to hear some of your whole food plant based hacks in the comments!
Natasha xoxo
Moroccan Spiced Lentils
Whole Foods Plant Based Serves 6 Prep time: 10 minutes Cook time: 30 minutes
Oil Free Vegan Gluten Free Sugar Free
Ingredients
- 1 Medium Red Onion
- 2 Garlic Cloves Crushed
- 1/4 Cup of Water (for cooking the onion and garlic in)
- 1Tsp Paprika
- 1/2 Tsp Cumin
- 1/2 Tsp Ginger
- 1 Tsp Cinnamon
- 1 Tsp Sea Salt
- 2 Tsp Salted Lemon Skins (optional, often used in Moroccan cooking)
- 1 Can Diced Tomatoes (Large size, 796 ml)
- 1 1/2 Cup Red Lentils
- 1 1/2 Cup Water
Method
- Dice onion and crush garlic.
- Add 1/4 Cup water to pot with garlic and onion, cook on medium / high heat until onions are clear in colour.
- Add Spices and salt and mix.
- Add diced tomatoes, red lentils, and water. Stir.
- Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to simmer and cook for 30 minutes until the lentils have absorbed the water.
- Serve over jasmine rice and garnish with lemon and dill.
- Enjoy!