Ginger peaches with lentils and feta
Fruit steps in for vegetables
Welcome to To Vegetables, With Love, a celebration of a vegetable life, less ordinary. ‘ Find archived recipes on my recipe index.
In the summer, fruit often replaces vegetables in my salads. Inbuilt with sun-kissed sweetness and a juicy, ripe-but-cushiony flesh, often they inject much more flavour and interest than raw vegetables. I give myself freedom to use peaches and plums wherever I might employ tomatoes. A caprese salad with peaches. Plums and feta. Cherries with basil. Watermelon with capers. This wanton rebuke of the norm is what carefree summer is all about.
Ginger peaches caught my eye this week. The recipe is in the wonderful Noor Murad’s book LUGMA (a charming word which means ‘a bite’ in Arabic). The warmth of ginger with the floral tang of peaches, two worlds collide in tantalising fashion. I rushed to make it.
Noor recommends eating ginger peaches with halloumi. Her suggestion led me on a tangent. I decided to serve it with feta and lentils. This salad exemplifies the fruit-in-place-of-tomato approach. Tomatoes would work very well here, I’m sure.
LUGMA is full of bright ideas like ginger peaches. Noor has always charmed me with her vibrant personality, which is fully reflected in the food that she cooks. Her recipes brim with colour and lightness, loaded with vegetables too, reflective of her Bahrainian heritage. In many ways, this is the perfect book for summer. There’s fun share plates, and excellent ideas for entertaining family and friends. I know I shouldn’t turn on the oven but I am very keen to try A Very Green Lasagna with Fresh Chilli Sauce, a middle eastern take on lasagna.
Make sure you subscribe to Noor Murad here on Substack.
Southern Hemisphere: Stay warm and make this winter version of tomato dumpling salad
In other news, I got my advance of the US edition (also the international edition) of LINGER this week, so the family is complete. I’m so impressed by how she turned out. Here’s a sneak peek
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And now a round up on what to cook this week. All NYT Cooking recipes have gift links.
Monday: These hoisin garlic noodles are one of NYT Cooking’s most popular recipes this year. Simplicity reigns.
Tuesday: This cold soba soup of tomato and kimchi is so refreshing
Wednesday: This corn and celery stirfry will hit the spot. Use frozen if you can’t get fresh corn
Thursday: Australian friends, try this Tofu and Tomato Egg Drop Soup
Friday: Who doesn’t love a rice salad? This Easy brown rice salad with feta and a quick pickled dressing is a good one.
Ginger peach, lentil and feta salad
© Hetty Lui McKinnon for To Vegetables, With Love.
The ginger peaches are adapted from Lugma by Noor Murat. The recipe is not made exactly the same way, I made a few tweaks here and there.
This salad is very peach led, with bright pops of fruit which sparkle against the backdrop of earthy lentils. The feta brings in the salt and tang. A bright and hearty salad for the season.
Serves 4
Vegan / gluten free
100g (1/2 cup) green or French (Puy) lentils
35g (1 ounce) ginger, peeled and julienned
4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon black mustard seeds
1 teaspoon Aleppo or red chili/pepper flakes
3 to 4 ripe but firm peaches (450g), halved, deseeded and thinly sliced
200g (7 ounce) vegan or Greek feta, drained and crumbled
Salt and black pepper
Handful basil leaves
Place the lentils into a medium saucepan, cover with 2-3cm (1 inch) of water and add a big pinch is salt. Bring to the boil and cook until just tender, 20 to 25 minutes. Drain and refresh under cold water and drain again.
In a small frying pan (skillet), add the ginger and olive oil and heat over medium heat. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the ginger starts to turn golden and crispy, 8 to 10 minutes (or sooner, if the ginger darkens faster). Add the mustard seeds and chili and cook just until the seeds begin to pop, 30 to 45 seconds. Remove the pan from the heat.
In a large bowl, add the lentils, peaches, feta and then spoon over the oil, ginger and seeds. Season with salt and pepper and toss to combine. Top with basil and serve.
It’s like you know the contents of my fridge! The recommendations all hero the extract ingredients that I need to use up! Thank you!
i love your way to reinterpret Lugma and this salad which is looking at me since a while ! i like that you transformed it into a meal -a bowl of happiness!