Bake your own Lentil and Sun-Dried Tomato Pate
Out of numerous lentil pate recipes the 5-element Lentil and Sun-Dried Tomato Pate is probably the best. It does not require stock because the spices are balanced in such a way that the flavour is just amazing. Thanks to the blending stage you get super creamy texture. With the addition of milled it is super healthy and filling. Just try it out.
The preparation
Lentils – rinse 200g of lentils in cold water, place it in a small cooking pan, add cold water 2cm/1in above the level of lentils and cook for about 15 minutes, until soft. Turn the heat off, cover the pan with a lid and leave for about 10 minutes, so that lentils absorb all water.
Millet – use a small cooking pan and repeat the same steps as above with 100g of millet.
Onion – while lentils and millet are cooking, peel and roughly chop 2 onions. Heat up 2 tablespoons of oil in a frying pan and fry the onions until translucent.
Garlic – about 2-3 minutes before the onion is ready add 3-4 garlic cloves roughly sliced.
The procedure
In a large blender cup add the following:
- Sweet cooked lentils, millet, onion, oil from 1 jar of sun-dried tomatoes, 1/2 teaspoon of sweet paprika, a pinch of sweet smoked paprika (optional),
- Pungent 1/2 teaspoon of ground coriander, 1/2 teaspoon of allspice, a generous pinch of black pepper, a pinch of chilli cayenne,
- Salty 1/2 teaspoon of sea salt, 1 tablespoon of soy sauce (optional),
- Sour 2 teaspoons of lemon juice,
- Bitter 1/2 teaspoon of turmeric.
The blending stage
Blend the ingredients until smooth. If the mixture is too thick, add a few tablespoons of hot water. Chop 4-5 sun-dried tomatoes and stir them into the mixture.
If you find there is not enough flavour, go over the cycle adding some more of the spices. Do not blend at this point, otherwise the tomatoes will get blended, which we do not want.
The baking stage
Grease a baking tin of 25cmx10cm with some oil and sprinkle it with bread crumbs. Add the mixture to it and bake in the oven preheated to 180ºC for about 40 minutes.
For better presentation and more flavour, 10 minutes before the end of baking sprinkle the pate with some black onion seeds (optional).
Get the pate out and leave to cool for about 3-4 hours. At this point the pate will be runny. As soon as the pate cools completely it will set.
Lentil and Sun-Dried Tomatoes Pate will go perfectly as a dinner option with hassleback squash or Italian gnocchi. Or simply as a bread topping.
