This was our first vegetarian recipe, and it has endured to become one of our go-to dishes.
| Prep Time: | 15 mins |
| Cook Time: | 1 hr |
| Total Time: | 1 hr 15 mins |
| Servings: | 8 |
| Yield: | 8 servings |
Ingredients
- 2 cups vegetable broth, divided
- 1 teaspoon yeast extract spread, e.g. Marmite/Vegemite
- ½ cup dry lentils
- ¼ cup pearl barley
- 1 large carrot, diced
- ½ onion, finely chopped
- ½ cup walnuts, coarsely chopped
- 3 potatoes, chopped
- 1 teaspoon all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon water
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
- In a large saucepan over medium-low heat, combine 1 1/4 cups broth, yeast extract, lentils and barley. Simmer for 30 minutes.
- Meanwhile, in a medium saucepan combine remaining 3/4 cup broth, carrot, onion and walnuts; cook until tender, about 15 minutes.
- Meanwhile, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add potatoes and cook until tender but still firm, about 15 minutes. Drain and mash.
- Combine flour and water and stir into carrot mixture; simmer until thickened. Combine carrot mixture with lentil mixture and season with salt and pepper. Pour mixture into a 2 quart casserole dish. Spoon mashed potatoes over lentil mixture.
- Bake in preheated oven until lightly browned on top, about 30 minutes.
Reviews
I made this exactly as the recipe was written but I didn’t read the other reviews. There needs to be at least another 3/4 liquid in the final mixture because it dried out terribly. The flavors were good and I will prob try it again with some adjustments but overall it needed a good dose of topping (catsup? ranch dressing? ) to make it go down easier.
Need to grind lentils for better texture.
We loved this, but omitted the nuts.
Wow! This was incredible! I was intrigued by this recipe because of the Marmite. Years and years ago, my old church had an international night for the kids. I tried a Vegemite sandwich and never wanted to taste something like that again??. But lately, I heard that it’s widely used by vegetarians as a flavor enhancer. It really added levels of flavor to the broth. I only had regular barley which worked and I cooked the lentils until they still had a nice bite. in the past, when I’ve used red lentils, they cook to a mushy mess. Super delicious and great baked as leftovers too. Thank you and also thanks for introducing me to that “secret” ingredient.
I enjoyed this recipe, but made changes based on what other reviewers had suggested. I think it would have been pretty bland without additional spices and flavors. I added garlic, zucchini, red pepper, and a little celery into the base mixture. I didn’t have barley, so used buckwheat groats and quinoa as a substitute. I also love sweet potatoes, so used those for the potato part, rather than white potatoes. Next time I would add more flavor into the potato part as well. But overall a pretty yummy recipe!
This recipe is a delicious staple in our house. I only make a couple of tweaks to it. I use instant potatoes with butter and milk and I add 1/2 tsp of Italian seasoning and 1/2 tsp dried sage to the lentil mixture. It’s a stick to your ribs on a cold day kind of recipe!
Loved this, it was very tasty! I definitely followed the advice from multiple reviewers and added celery, onion, and carrots 15 minutes into cooking the lentils/barley. I ended up adding another cup of liquid (combination of water and veggie broth.) I substituted 1/4 cup of nutritional yeast plus a couple dashes of Tamari in place of the Vegemite. I also added some frozen peas and canned corn when the mixture was done cooking before transferring to the baking dish for some extra veggies. It turned out great! It was our meal for Pi Day.
Surprisingly good! I was short on burners and time so I made a deconstructed version… like other reviewers suggested, I cooked the carrot and onion in the same pot as the lentils. I put the full amount of broth in up front and just added the veggies 15 minutes into the lentils and barley cooking. When there was 8 minutes left i added a diced zucchini and near the end added a cup of frozen peas. The “deconstructed” part was I served it over baked potatoes instead of making mashed and baking in the oven. Saved a lot of time! Whole family enjoyed it. I would make this again.
This is pretty good. I use 1.5 mushroom stock cubes in place of the marmite. I double the carrots. I double the mashed potato top because my boys LOVE mashed potatoes. Also, the carrots & onions can be added to the lentils and barley about 15 minutes in. (this just saves washing an extra pot!)
I added an extra carrot and a stalk of celery to the carrot pot and another big potato to the mashed potatoes. It was very good. I will definitely make it again, possibly weekly for winter. The only thing I might change is soaking the lentils and barley ahead of time.
Delicious and easy to put together with simple ingredients. It has nice texture too. I added peas as it’s not shepherd’s pie without them, in my book. However they turned dark as I added them to the carrots at the end of cooking, I guess they picked up the color of the beans. Next time I’ll add them to the top of the casserole just before putting on the potatoes. Thanks for a great recipe that I’ll be making often.
After reading other reviews i slightly tweaked the recipe and it turned out fabulously! I used one extra cup of veggie stock for the barley marmite & lentils. I turned the heat up till it boiled then turned it down to medium low and cooked for 30 minutes then to save on pans I added the carrots (i did 2 not 1) walnuts and onion( I also included a shallot) directly to the lentils mixture plus about one cup veggie stock turned burner up to medium high and cooked for ten minutes then added 2 tsp corn starch mixed with 4 tsp cold water and cooked the whole mixture an extra 5 minutes i dumped this mixture along with a drained can of peas into baking dish and topped with mashed potatoes. I seasoned my potatoes with margarine, salt, garlic powder and unsweetened almond milk. The overall dish was so like I remember it with meat. It was wonderful!!!!
I used red potatoes and left the skin. I also added a can of sweet corn. I didn’t have lentils or barley (I know, it changed the taste to something different perhaps). However, we loved this dish. I made a 9X13 glass pan and my daughter and I ate the entire thing in two days! Delicious and yummy. Great for a cold day. My daughter is vegan so this was perfect for her. I mashed the potatoes using almond milk. I didn’t use cheese at all. Again, it was delicious! Thank you!
Not bad for a person that ate meat 2 months ago. We as a family are living the no meat but just trying to figure out what we like.
Fussy 14 year old vegetarian loved this with the nutritional yeast option. Will definitely make again for her!
Saute garlic, onions, and carrots before adding broth. Could add pees in the future.
Love it- make it frequently but now that I have made it lots I have made some changes. I add peas into the mix and sweet potatoes to the mash. I don’t add the yeast never had it in my cupboard. Great recipe easy to work with.
Our vegetarian friend really enjoyed it, which is a nice compliment. We did add a few more vegetables because there were 7 people here for dinner but otherwise stuck to the plan and it was good.
Loved this dish as did my family. It is now on our 2 weekly rotation. However, made a number of changes: -used 1/2 lentils to 1/2 dried millet ration -Doubled recipe and then added: -used 1 tablespoon of miso instead of the vegemite -added 1/4 cup nutritional yeast, 3 cloves garlic, 1 cup of frozen corn and 1 cup of frozen kale, 1/2 cup creamed corn (put corned in high speed blender with a bit of stock), fresh savory, bay leaf, dried italian herbs -omitted walnuts -mixed mash potatoes with a bit of nut milk and nutritional yeast Okay so maybe this is a completely difference recipe now, but I couldn’t have got there without the original, so thanks!
This was Fab my husband and I loved it, I added probably 1.5 cups more of the Broth as it was very dry. We had it with Gravy.
We would prefer more sauce, so I don’t add the flour/water mixture. A couple tablespoonsful of red wine and maybe one of either Worcestershire or soy sauce would add some depth of flavor.