Herbed lentil and beetroot ‘couscous’ with halloumi
- Published: 30 Nov 12
- Updated: 18 Mar 24
This colourful and herby vegetarian dish is healthy, filling and tastes great too. The beetroot is blitzed in a food processor until it’s the same size as couscous and then then served with roasted beetroot, spiced seeds and halloumi.
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Serves 4
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Takes 1 hour to make, 40 min to cook
Ingredients
For the lentil and beetroot ‘couscous’
- 150g raw beetroot, peeled
- 100g cooked puy lentils
- 1 banana shallot, finely chopped
- 10g finely grated fresh ginger
- 100g pickled dill cucumbers or gherkins, finely diced
- 20g each roughly chopped fresh dill, flatleaf parsley and mint
- 1½ tbsp red wine vinegar
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- Squeeze of lemon juice (optional)
- Cumin-seed flatbreads to serve
For the roast beetroot
- 400g evenly sized beetroots
- Olive oil for drizzling
For the spiced seeds
- 30g each sunflower and pumpkin seeds
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- Pinch of cayenne pepper
For the halloumi
- 300g halloumi, cut into slices
- 2 tbsp olive oil
Method
- For the lentil and beetroot ‘couscous’, trim the beetroot, then chop into small pieces. Pulse in a food processor until finely chopped. Put in a bowl and mix with the rest of the ingredients except for the lemon juice and flatbreads. Taste and season, adding lemon juice if required, then chill until needed.
- For the roast beetroot, preheat the oven to 180°C/fan160°C/gas 4. Wrap each beetroot in foil and roast for 30-40 minutes until tender when pierced with a knife. Remove from the oven and foil, leave until cool enough to handle, then slip off the skins (you may want to wear gloves) and cut into bite-size pieces. Drizzle with olive oil, season and set aside.
- For the spiced seeds, toss the ingredients together with a large pinch of salt, spread on a baking tray and cook for around 5-10 minutes until golden. Set aside.
- For the halloumi, heat the oil in a non-stick frying pan, add half the cheese slices, then fry for 2-3 minutes until golden, turning once. Repeat with the remaining slices, then serve immediately with the roasted beetroot, beetroot ‘couscous’ and flatbreads on the side.
- Recipe from December 2012 Issue
Nutrition
- Calories
- 560kcals
- Fat
- 43.1g (16g saturated)
- Protein
- 24.3g
- Carbohydrates
- 27.1g (10.8g sugars)
- Fibre
- 7g
- Salt
- 2.1g
delicious. tips
Make the lentil and beetroot ‘couscous’ the day before, then add the herbs and shallots at the last minute.
You could cook the roast beetroot the day before, then chill overnight. Remove from the fridge 1 hour before serving to come up to room temperature.
It’s important to have everything ready to serve before you start to cook the halloumi as the cheese tastes much better when it’s just come out of the pan.
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