Lentil and Kidney Bean Bolognese
We all have that one vegan friend. You know, the one who eats falafel and carrot sticks and likes to remind you that they’re vegan? Well soon that’s gonna be me! My friend Kat and I are planning on going Vegan for Veganuary, however as that’s a pretty big step we’ve decided to work our way up to it by first going vegetarian and refined sugar free for November (bring on the hummus and carrot sticks!). I was veggie a couple of years ago, and so I’ve got a few recipes up my sleeve to start with like this insanely good Bolognese. This is something I made all the time way back when and I now make it way more than the beef version. It’s full of beans and lentils so it’s got lots of protein in it and as lentils can be kept in the cupboard for years you can rustle this up whenever you want! For any meat eaters out there who are thinking why make something meat-esk, just use meat, try this. It tastes amazing. You won’t regret it.
Recipe
Serves 4
Time: 25 minutes
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp Oil
- 1 White onion
- 2 Carrots
- 2 Garlic cloves
- 500g Red lentils
- 400g Chopped tomatoes
- 1 tbsp Tomato puree
- 1L Vgetable stock
- 1 tsp Mixed herbs
- 500g Spaghetti
- 400g Kidney beans
- Chedda cheese, grated to serve (optional)
- Fresh Basil to serve (optional)
Method
- Put the oil into a large saucepan. Peel and then finely dice the onions and then add them to the oil. Place over a medium-high heat and fry until starting to caramelise.
- Peel the carrots and garlic cloves and then dice them. You want the carrots in chunks and the garlic to be finely diced. Add to the onions, mix and then fry for another 2-3 minutes until soft.
- Put the lentils, chopped tomatoes, tomato puree and vegetable stock into the pan and leave to simmer for 15-20 minutes until the lentils have cooked through.
- Meanwhile put another pan of water on a high heat for the spaghetti. Bring to the boil and then add the spaghetti and cook to the packet’s instructions (normally about 10 minutes).
- Add the mixed herbs, kidney beans to the bolognese mix and leave to simmer for another 3-5 minutes.
- Drain the spaghetti and serve with the bolognese, grated cheese and a little basil!
Thanks for reading!
Emma x