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5 from 4 votes

Turkish Green Lentil Salad Recipe

A light, healthy & refreshing salad that is tasty year round - but perfect in summer.
Course Salad
Cuisine Turkish
Prep Time 2 hours 15 minutes
Cook Time 30 minutes
Total Time 2 hours 45 minutes
Servings 4
Calories 130kcal
Author Turkey's For Life

Ingredients

For The Salad

  • 1 cup green lentils around 200g
  • 1 large tomato or two medium ones, deseeded & diced
  • 1 bunch spring onions trimmed, cleaned & finely chopped
  • 1 red onion quartered & cut into thin slices
  • ½ bunch flat leaf parsley roughly chopped
  • 2 cloves garlic peeled & grated
  • 2 red pickled chillies finely chopped (optional)
  • 1 teaspoon chilli flakes
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
  • 1/2 teaspoon dried mint

For The Salad Dressing

  • 3 tablespoons olive oil good quality
  • 1 tablespoon lemon juice
  • 2 teaspoons vinegar
  • ½ teaspoon sour pomegranate sauce optional
  • salt & pepper to taste

Instructions

For The Salad

  • Soak your green lentils in water for a couple of hours until they start to soften and swell.
  • Drain your lentils.
  • Bring 3 cupfuls of water to the boil and add your lentils.
  • Cover and simmer for around 30 minutes - check them occasionally as you want to keep them whole. They will start to break up if they become too soft.
  • Once cooked, drain them in a colander and pour cold water over them to cool them down and stop them cooking further.
  • When they have cooled, add your lentils to a serving bowl.
  • Now add the rest of your salad ingredients, except the tomatoes, and mix together gently.
  • Scatter your chopped tomato over the top.

For The Salad Dressing

  • In a small bowl, mix together all your dressing ingredients and do a taste test.
  • Add more lemon or oil if necessary.
  • Drizzle your dressing over the salad & gently mix everything together.

Notes

  • Please note, nutritional values are only a rough guide and depend on how much of each ingredient you use.
  • Prep time includes a couple of hours for soaking your lentils.
  • Pickled chillies and nar ekşisi are both optional ingredients.
  • If you are using fresh mint rather than dried, add around 4-5 leaves, finely chopped.
  • For the vinegar in the salad dressing, you can use white wine vinegar but we like tangy flavours so we use the regular grape vinegar widely available in Turkey.