I tried to recreate the salad that my Tunisian in-laws make, which is light and energizing. With the addition of lemon zest, I gave this my own personal “twist.” Using bright veggies results in a salad that is both light and beautifully presented. Serve with toasted baguettes and garnish with thinly sliced hard-boiled eggs.
| Prep Time: | 25 mins |
| Cook Time: | 30 mins |
| Additional Time: | 1 hr |
| Total Time: | 1 hr 55 mins |
| Servings: | 4 |
| Yield: | 4 servings |
Ingredients
- 4 cups water
- salt
- 1 ¼ cups dry lentils
- 2 large cloves garlic, minced
- 2 large roma (plum) tomatoes, seeded and chopped
- ½ cup chopped red onion
- ½ cup chopped green bell pepper
- 1 small green chile pepper, seeded and chopped
- 1 lemon, juiced
- 1 teaspoon lemon zest
- 1 small carrot, shredded
- ½ cup oil-cured black olives
- ¼ cup chopped fresh cilantro
- salt and ground black pepper to taste
- ¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil
- 2 hard-cooked eggs, cut in half lengthwise
Instructions
- Bring the water and salt to a boil in a saucepan over high heat. Pour the lentils into the water while stirring constantly. Reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer until the lentils are tender but still hold their shape, about 30 minutes. Drain well.
- Transfer the lentils to a mixing bowl and stir in the garlic, seeded tomatoes, red onion, green bell pepper, and chile pepper. Add the juice of 1 lemon plus 1 teaspoon of the zest. Mix in the shredded carrot, olives, and cilantro.
- Season with salt and black pepper, and drizzle with olive oil; mix well. Refrigerate for at least an hour to allow the flavors to blend.
- Before serving, mix the salad again and add more lemon juice or olive oil if needed. Transfer to a serving dish and garnish with sliced eggs.
- You may also use red bell peppers in place of green and parsley instead of cilantro, if you prefer.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 431 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 45 g |
| Cholesterol | 106 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 20 g |
| Protein | 20 g |
| Saturated Fat | 3 g |
| Sodium | 344 mg |
| Sugars | 5 g |
| Fat | 19 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
A good recipe. I lessened the citrus by half; a nice hint of citrus existed. I would make this recipe again.
we loved it ! i took the advice of another user and used slightly less lemon zest( about 1/3rd) … the mix of flavours ( lemon with garlic and cilantro) is just amazing!!
Very good!
Don’t overcook the lentils or they get mushy. 20 minutes is about the top simmering time for brown lentils.
Good solid recipe. I will probably make it again in the warm, summer months.
I make this salad a lot. I add all spice, cumin and cinnamon, as well as any veggies that I have in my fridge. Plus I also add farro for a bit more texture and nutty flavour. I love this salad!!!!
Holy moly! This is incredibly delicious! The only thing I did different was add a little more cilantro to it (only because I didn’t want to waste the little extra bit of cilantro I had) and it is really good. I am certain I’ll be making this again for not just here at home, but to bring to get togethers (:
I just thought that between the zest and the juice, this dressing was overwhelmingly lemony and covered the taste of the veggies.
Daughter chose to make this for the family for her Food Fun class. Lentils need more supervision – they cooked too long. Flavor is delic!
I combined this recipe with the Summer Lentil Salad and recipe because I wanted more stuff in my salad. I added 1/4 cup of chopped cucumber. It came out tremendous.
The flavors kept getting better in the fridge. I added avocado right before serving.
I couldn’t find olives cured in oil and used good quality black olives in brine. It was delicious and tasted like it was so good for us.
This was great!!
Add some feta cheese.
I was hesitant to make this recipe as just about everything is raw. I personally am not a raw onion or garlic type of person. With that in mind I went ahead with the recipe as it states. I figured I would try it and if I didn’t love it I would play around with it. Honestly though with the lemon it is very balanced. Can’t believe how much I loved this recipe.I will not be changing it, at least for now. Yum!!!!
I used kalamata olives which I chopped, and parsley instead of cilantro. This is so good. Definitely use a nice large lemon. I really didn’t think that the hard boiled eggs added anything to this salad and recommend not bothering with them.
I also used a jalapeno because that’s what I had and this recipe is very good. I served it with homemade chunky applesauce which was a perfect compliment.
The lemon flavour was overpowering and the other vegetables couldn’t compete for the flavours. It does definitely need the olives, though.
Loved this. Made a great summer dinner.
So tasty and healthy, thank you for sharing
Wonderful