Lentil Bake

Originally posted at:
https://www.easycheesyvegetarian.com/very-veggie-lentil-bake/

Ingredients:

110 g red lentils (~ 1/2 cup)
75 g white rice (~ 1/4 cup)
650 ml vegetable stock (~ 2 1/2 cups), or 2 stock cubes made up in 650ml water
1 tbsp oil
1 small leek or 1/2 large leek, sliced
1 bell pepper, diced fairly small (I used orange)
5 medium mushrooms, diced fairly small
1 small courgette (zucchini), or 1/2 large courgette, diced fairly small
1 tsp smoked paprika
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
Black pepper
90 g grated cheddar cheese (~ 1 cup) 

Directions:

Boil the lentils and rice for 15-20 minutes in the vegetable stock, stirring occasionally. You'll need to stir constantly during the last 5 minutes or so, to ensure they don't stick to the bottom of the pan. Once they're cooked, don't drain the water, but instead continue stirring over the heat until enough water has boiled off for the mixture to resemble porridge.

Meanwhile, heat the oil in a frying pan, and add the chopped leek, pepper, mushrooms and courgette. Cook over a medium heat for 5-10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables are soft.

Heat the oven to 190°C (Gas Mark 5 / 375°F).

Combine the cooked lentils and vegetables in a large mixing bowl, and add the paprika, cayenne pepper, and plenty of black pepper. Mix well.

Transfer half of the mixture to a baking dish, and sprinkle over half of the grated cheese. Add the remaining lentil mixture, smooth out the top, and finish with the remaining cheese.

Bake for around 25-30 minutes, until the cheese topping is golden brown and crispy.

Hot Mama Grade: A

Hot Mama Notes:

This recipe is getting to be a favorite of mine! I've made it 3 or 4 times already! It's so flexible, and as the original chef mentions, you can use whatever veggies you want!

For the first time, when I hosted bunko, I pretty much made the recipe true to recipe. Except... This was tasty Tuesday recipe at work, and there was a typo of 1.5c lentils instead of 0.5c lentils. Oops! So that's how I made it. Which is actually great. I love lentils! I just had to add more liquid. The only change beyond that was that I used green lentils and added a few carrots, thinly sliced. A great addition, I think. I did add cheese and bake it, too.

The second time I made this, I used red lentils, chicken stock, and added a pkg of fresh spinach. I also had no zucchini, but I did use a leek.  I didn't add cheese or bake it. I don't think it needs that, at all. Just added time, and dries it out some. Delicious! I think I did have mushrooms and a green pepper, but I can't remember. I may have added some of my frozen omelet veggies, which has onion, pepper, and mushrooms.

The third time, I did the same as the second except I had no leek.  Still excellent. :) I also used the last little bit of my omelet veggies. I also added 2 cloves of fresh pressed garlic cloves. 

This recipe is a winner. I'm sure I'll make it again! :D