vegetarian protein, yumm

  

Sweater weather is here! Mostly. At least it is here in the morning then things get weird and humid and you find yourself sweating during a casual seaside walk with Mel so that you can't even drink your tea, you're so warm. Forget it, let's leave (get it?) fall fashion for another day and talk about food.

In Vancouver, we have a small chain of restaurants that go by the name of Nuba. They feature delicious and nutritious and pretty inexpensive Lebanese food, plus they have lots of top notch vegan options. I like to eat their food then steal their recipes. 

One such theft is a wicked lentil wrap. Here's what you'll need:

1 tin cooked lentils, pre-spiced (check out the brand Eden)
1 package of wraps (I like flaxseed, it's a nice compliment and it just feels healthy)
1 avocado
1 small-ish onion, thinly sliced
1 jalapeno, thinly sliced
1 tomato (a fleshy heritage variety will work best because it will be less watery and have less seeds to get in your way while nomming)
oil - olive, grapeseed, canola, whatever
+ red wine vinegar pickled cabbage if you like it and you have any (super easy to make, leave a comment if you want to know how)


The onions are the most time consuming part of this quick recipe so start those first. In a (preferably cast-iron) pan, pour a thin coat of oil (and a smidge of butter if you eat butter) and add your thinly sliced onions. Cook on med-low heat until dark brown and crispy, adding oil and/or butter to prevent burning. This should take about 20 minutes. In the last 5 minutes of onion cooking, add your jalapeno slices to the pan. Scoop out your onions and jalapeno slices and spread out on paper towel to soak up excess oil so they stay crispy and don't get soggy on you. 


During that 20 minutes or so of babysitting your onions, it's a good idea to open that can of lentils at some point, pour into a pot and begin to heat just before you add your jalapenos to your onions. That 20 minute window is also a good time to halve and thickly slice your avocado, roughly chop up your tomato and take a wrap or two out of the package. 


When your onions are crispy and your lentils are heated thoroughly, it is simply a matter of assembly:


1 wrap + a nice portion of lentils + about half an avocado per wrap spread out on top of the lentils + some of your delicious crispy onions and jalapenos + a sprinkle of tomato chunks (+ some pickled cabbage perhaps). A squirt of lemon juice on top of everything never hurts either.


And nom.


Photo from cocorosa at http://mypreciousconfessions.blogspot.com/