Spiced Lentils with Carrots and Purple Potatoes

Wanna hear what I did this weekend?

I worked 16 hours a day for 3 days, I squeezed the work of a week in those hours. It doesn’t sound like a lot of fun, but trust me, I loved it. If you do what you love for a living, you’ll be on vacation all your life.

I am very excited about the result, so let me tell you more…

Last year Sagrario — from the magazine Vainilla y Azafrán — and I chatted about maybe collaborating for one of the editions of the magazine, but we never did agree on anything, and months passed.

A few months ago we chatted again, Sagrario was looking to revamp the magazine and was looking for help creating a new style for the next edition. She agreed to come here to Punta Cana and our team of three took three days to shoot nearly all the recipes for the next magazine. Oh boy!

For me it was a challenge, every job is, but this time we also were on a tight schedule, and both trying to absorb as much knowledge from each other as we could.

Exhausted as we were, we chatted, had coffee, cookies, more coffee, and chatted some more. I may be getting old for this, but I still had tons of fun. I am so looking forward to seeing the results. It’ll be some time until the new edition is out, but I will keep you posted.

So, after 3 days of endless shooting, and trying foods, I needed a break. I needed to eat lighter, but I also wanted to go back to my favorite comfort dishes. I don’t know why, but lentils just hit the spot for me.

If you have the suspicion that I have borrowed more than a little inspiration from Indian cuisine, you are right. I have.  I love their spices, so I incorporated some of my favorite ones in this dish. I found some purple potatoes in our local supermarket that was dying to try. The taste and texture are nearly identical to regular-color potatoes, but I loved the unusual color. You can use regular potatoes without loss of flavor.

Aunt Clara

Spiced Lentils with Carrots and Purple Potatoes

Spiced Lentils with Carrots and Purple Potatoes: Aromatic, comforting, filling, and light. Serve this delicious dish and you will be making it again soon.

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Prep Time: 6 hours 10 minutes

Cook Time: 15 minutes

Total Time: 6 hours 25 minutes

Servings: 6 servings

Recipe Author: Clara Gonzalez

Ingredients

• 2 cups of lentils
• 12 cardamom seeds
• 1/2 teaspoon of peppercorns
• 1/2 teaspoon of chili flakes1 teaspoon of coarse salt
• 1/4 cup of olive oil , divided
• 6 garlic cloves , crushed
• 1 teaspoon of turmeric
• 2 large white onions , diced
• 6 purple potatoes (or medium-size potatoes of your choice), diced
• 2 large carrots , diced
• 2 bay leaves
• 2 cups of vegetable stock
• 1 cup of arugula

Instructions

• Soak the lentils in abundant water overnight (keep in the fridge). Remove from the water and rinse.
• Remove the cardamom seeds from the pods.
• Mix cardamom seeds, peppercorns, chili flakes and coarse salt. Crush with a mortar and pestle.
• Heat half the oil in a large pan over low heat, add garlic, turmeric and cardamom mix.
• Cook and stir for 30 seconds, or until the ingredients release their flavor.
• Add the onions and cook and stir until the onions turn translucent.
• Add potatoes, lentils, bay leaves and carrots. Cook and stir until it all well mixed.
• Add half the vegetable stock, mix well. Cover and simmer until the liquid has evaporated (stir ever 3 minutes or so).
• Add the remaining stock, cover and simmer (stirring frequently) until the carrots are cooked through.
• Remove from the heat and mix with the arugula. Drizzle with the remaining oil.
• Serve with arroz blanco (white rice).

Notes

If you, like me, love spicy food, just add more chili flakes, as much as you want. This recipe produces a very mild spicy dish.