Summer food.

From time to time I cook at punk shows for a bunch of people and I never know what to cook until last minute. I barely can follow a recipe, recipes make me totally confused and so I just think about something that sounds good, make a rough plan and go shopping. If I find everything I planned - yay. If I don't find everything - I make something different. It doesn't matter because I use everything I find in the particular kitchen where I cook and often change the plans during cooking anyway or add something I never thought of beforehand. I improvise and it's always way too much but more or less it's tasty.
Yesterday I got asked: "So you make awesome stuff off the top of your head?" Erm, yes. Kind of.
But then I always forget how I made it, which is irrelevant most of the time, but yesterday I made the best lentil salad ever. I hope, that I can remember everything.

- red lentils
- ground hazelnuts
- garlic
- lemon (juice and zest)
- mint
- salt, pepper, paprika, ginger, soy sauce
- olive oil
- dash of sugar

Heat a little olive oil in a pot, add lentils. Stir and fry for about 5 minutes. Add water until lentils are covered and stir from time to time. Red lentils cook very quickly, from 10-15 minutes. Add salt, pepper, ginger (I didn't have fresh one, I used powder as I found this in the kitchen and thought: oh, ginger!), juice from one lemon, soy sauce, sugar.

In a small pan heat some olive oil and add ground hazelnuts and smashed and chopped garlic, stir well until it smells very, very good and the hazelnuts are getting a bit darker. Turn off the heat and put the pan aside.
Chop a lot of fresh mint. When the lentils are done fold in the mint and the hazelnut-garlic mixture together with the zests of one lemon.

Serve on chicory leaves and enjoy. I might have good ideas for cooking, unfortunately I don't have good ideas for names. So this is just a very good summer lentil salad. Or THE summer lentil salad.

Yesterday I served this salad along with arugula salad with caramelised cherry tomatoes; the dressing was something like balsamic vinegar, oil, tahini, salt, water, mustard. The main dish was tagliatelle with a zucchini-snow peas-sage-cream sauce and roasted walnuts, which were also very good and I was very happy with the result altogether.

In general: just add roasted nuts and as much fresh herbs as you can and everything will be perfect.

summer lentils

arugula with caramelised cherry tomatoes

tagliatelle w/ zucchini, snow peas, oat cream, roasted walnuts

Coriander-Mint-Tofu with Beluga Lentils and Carrot-Hazelnut Salad

100g black beluga lentils

2 big carrots

200g tofu

2 limes

1 tblsp agave syrup

1 tblsp apple cider vinegar

light soy sauce

1-2 tblsp chopped toasted hazelnuts

fresh mint and koriander

Cook the lentils on medium heat for about 20 minutes, add a decent pinch of salt.

Cut tofu in small triangles or any bite-sized shape you prefer and marinate in juice of two limes, soy sauce and some fresh koriander and mint.

10 minutes before lentils are done, grate the carrots, add hazelnuts, agave syrup and some soy sauce. Toss well and set aside. 

Heat 1 tblsp oil in a pan, drain the tofu (keep the marinade for lentils) and fry on medium heat. 

When lentils are done, drain them and rinse with cold water. Mix with the marinade from tofu and the apple cider vinegar. Serve all things together and garnish with some fresh mint. Great combination of flavours! And I bet it's healthy as fuck.

Sweet and sour black lentil spread.

2 smashed cloves of garlic
50g vegan butter (e.g. Alsan)
2 tbsp sugar
Melt butter, add garlic and sugar and fry til slightly golden, then
add 150g black lentils, stir well, add water til the lentils are
covered. 

Add veggie broth, dash of cumin, herbes de provence, pepper,
3 fresh leaves of savage. Let simmer for a while, stir from
time to time and add some water. If the lentils are done let the water dissolve almost completely.

Add juice of half a lime and salt. Puree with a hendheld mixer til
you get a creamy spread.

The longer you cook the lentils the softer they get the creamier will be
your spread. Mine was a bit chunky but delicious, though.

Yellow Lentil Soup With Fried Tofu.

- about 200g yellow lentils

- 2 onions

- cumin

- paprika

- salt

- pepper

- ginger

- orange juice

- handful of cherry tomatoes (or 2 tomatoes)

- 150 g tofu

- black sesame

Cut onion in fine pieces and slightly fry them in 1 teaspoon oil. Add lentils and the double amount of water, bring to the boil.

In the meanwhile prepare the tofu:

Cut tofu into small triangels and fry with a little oil slightly from all sides until golden brown. Add salt and pepper.

If the lentils are almost done, add spices and cut cherry tomatoes in half and add. Let cook for another 2 minutes, reduce heat and add a swig of orange juice.

Serve soup with tofu on top and decorate with black sesame.