This dish is so much more delicious and flavoursome than it sounds and it's so easy to make. In our house we generally eat small amounts of good quality, grass fed meat most days, as well as wild-caught seafood and organic eggs, but we all know how much the cost of groceries has increased over the last few months. This is a really great recipe if you're trying to cut costs or want some more meat free options.
If you aren't eating much meat or other animal products, it's important to combine lentils and grains in a way that means you'll be getting enough protein and the full range of essential amino acids. Soaking your legumes before cooking is also a great way to reduce the lectin content and improve the absorption of nutrients.
Deficiencies of nutrients like Iron and B-vitamins are very common in both meat eaters and vegetarians and some of the most common I see in my clinic. There are often many other factors that lead to nutrient deficiencies, the nutrient content of the food you eat is just one of them. You can read more about that here.
Ingredients
1 1/2 cups of dried chickpeas/lentils/soup mix pulses in any combo that you like
1/4 cup pesto
1 punnet cherry tomatoes
4 cups of vegetable (or chicken) broth
2 TB of tomato paste or chutney
3 huge handfuls of baby spinach
Bread, softened butter and 2 crushed cloves of garlic to serve.
Method
Soak the chickpeas/lentils in water overnight then drain. Blend the pesto and cherry tomatoes in a blender until smooth then add this mix with the chickpeas/lentils, vegetables stock and tomato paste/chutney to a pot and bring to the boil. Lower the heat and simmer with the lid off for around 2 hours or until the chickpeas are tender and the liquid has reduced. You may need to add some extra water during cooking if there's no liquid left but the chickpeas aren't yet cooked.
Once cooked, turn of the heat and stir through the baby spinach.
Enjoy!
Belinda x