Recipes to Save the World! Lentil Ragu

Lentil Ragu (Lentil Bolognese)

Two Sentence Recipe

Fry onions, carrots, celery and garlic together, add red lentils, canned tomatoes, tomato puree and herbs.  Cook until reduced and lentils are to the desired texture, then add to separately cooked pasta.

Very Basic Recipe

Ingredients Oil for frying (light canola/olive oil) 1 Onion (chopped) 2 garlic cloves (thinly chopped or crushed) 250g red lentils 1 can of tomatoes 1 tbsp Vinegar 1 tsp sugar ½ tsp salt 250g pasta (spaghetti or shells works well)

Instructions -Fry onion and garlic for 2 minutes -Add rest of ingredients cook until lentils are soft but still have bite -Cook pasta separately -Combine and eat!

Basic Recipe – 2/3 servings

Ingredients 1 Onion (chopped) 1-2 celery sticks (thinly chopped) 1-2 carrots (grated) 250g red lentils 2 garlic cloves (thinly chopped or crushed) 1 can of tomatoes 500ml vegetable stock (can be left out for thicker sauce) 1 tbsp Vinegar, ideally balsamic 1 tbsp tomato puree 1 tbsp dried oregano or basil 1 tsp sugar or 2 finely chopped dates ½ tsp salt Oil for frying (light canola/olive oil) 250g pasta (spaghetti or shells works well)

Instructions -In the oil fry onion until translucent then add garlic and tomato puree and cook for a further minute. -Add carrots and celery cook until carrots have broken down. -Add remaining ingredients (canned tomatoes, Vinegar, sugar/dates) -Put on low heat to thicken and cook lentils while pasta is cooking.  Approximately 30 minutes but keep checking the lentils until they are at the consistency you will enjoy most. -Cook pasta as per instructions on packet. -Drain pasta and add to sauce, gently stirring in.

Variations

Add more veg in the final mix, particularly good are: -beans, sweet corn and chilli -fried mushrooms make an excellent “meaty” addition -a parmesan like topping can be added by blending cashews, garlic power and nutritional yeast together. -roasted or pureed pumpkin can add a little extra sweetness Substitute the carbohydrate (pasta): -change to rice, which with the beans, corn and chilli, give a Mexican twist. -change to zoodles/courgetti to lower the calorie, carb count or remove the wheat (zoodles are thinly sliced courgette/zucchini that raw or briefly warmed in hot water make an excellent pasta substitute). -change it into a completely different dish by putting mash potatoes on top for a Shepherdess pie (leave out the stock). Substitute the Lentils with: -green or black lentils -cooked beans Deepen the flavour by adding: -Tamari soya sauce -Vegan Worcester sauce -Marmite or vegemite

Nutrition

If half of this was eaten buy a single person as a large meal it would (according to cronometer.com) provide: -756 kcals (35% RDA) -143g Carbs (90% RDA) -25.5g Fibre -92.2g Starch -6.1g Fat (9% RDA) (1.1g saturated, 0.4g Omega-3, 2.1g Omega 6) -0g Cholesterol -40.8g protein (72% RDA) (covering all amino acids) As percentage of RDA for some key nutrients: 67% of Fibre, 165% of Iron, 19% of Calcium, 274% of Vitamin A, 39% of Vitamin C, 0% Vitamin of B*, 80% of Folate *this can be improved by adding fortified Nutritional yeast or Marmite. This dish should also cover 5 servings of vegetables.

Cost and Storage Considerations

To make this a dish that can be cooked from long term stores use: -dried lentils (lasts long time, very cheap) -spaghetti (takes less space, cheap, lasts long time) -canned tomatoes (lasts long time, cheap) -tube of tomato puree (lasts well, re-sealable) -vinegar (lasts long time) -sugar (lasts long time, but must be kept dry) -dried herbs last well -Onions (store whole in cool, dark dry ventilated place (not in a bag)) can last over a month. Canned Easy Onions are a cheap better long term option. -Garlic Powder (lasts long time, but must be kept dry) -Carrots can be bought canned relatively cheaply, don’t taste great by themselves but work in this recipe. -Celery can be bought dried or dehydrated at home but perhaps are best left out of the stored version of this dish