Description
This roasted eggplant black lentil salad is a great spoonable salad situation that takes full advantage of late summer produce like eggplant and sweet cherry tomatoes.
Ingredients
Scale
- 1 small graffiti eggplant, diced into cubes (about 2 cups chopped or 135g)
- 3/4 cup (142g) dry black lentils
- 1 cup (20 tomatoes or 140g) cherry tomatoes, halved or quartered (depending on size)
- 2 tbsp mint leaves, finely minced
- 3 tbsp olive oil
- 2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
- 1 tsp cumin seeds
- 1 tsp coriander seeds
- 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
- 1/2 cup (40g) sliced toasted almonds
- Diamond Crystal kosher salt (used total 1 tsp)
Instructions
- Cook the lentils. Dump the lentils into a pot of boiling water, season generously with kosher salt, and cook until soft. Then drain and rinse thoroughly. I like to dump the lentils out onto a towel to get all the water out (otherwise the salad will become watery).
- In parallel with the lentils cooking, roast the eggplant. Preheat your oven to 450°F and line a sheet pan with parchment paper. Slice the eggplant in half, then slice each half lengthwise into strips, and cube into 1 cm eggplant cubes. Dump the eggplant onto the prepared pan, generously drizzle with evoo and salt, and toss to coat. Roast the eggplant for about 20-25 minutes or until browned and slightly charred.
- Prep the remaining veggies. Prep the tomatoes and mint while the lentils and eggplant cook. Once the lentils are done, dump them into a large serving bowl, along with the roasted eggplant, tomatoes, and mint.
- Make the spiced oil, aka tadka. Sauté the garlic in the olive oil over medium heat until it just begins to brown, then throw in the cumin and coriander seeds and sauté an additional 30-ish seconds. Sprinkle in the cayenne pepper and saute for about 10 seconds, take off the heat immediately. NOTE: Powdered spices like cayenne burn very quickly, which is why I like adding the cayenne pepper last.
- Toss and serve. Pour the spiced oil over the lentil bowl, add in the sliced almonds and salt, and toss to combine. Adjust for salt and serve warm! NOTE: Feel free to add a squeeze of lemon if your tomatoes aren’t that acidic.