Oriental lentil salad

Ingredients (serves 4):

For the salad:

• 125 g mountain lentils (uncooked)
• 2 spring onions
• 250 g cucumber
• 2 tomatoes
• 100 g feta (vegan of your choice)
• 40 g parsley
• 15 g mint
• 1 lemon

For the dressing:

• 2 cloves of garlic
• 3 tbsp olive oil (plus 1 tbsp for frying)
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1 1/2 tsp harissa (alternatively: Asian chili paste sambal oelek)
• 1 tbsp agave syrup
• 4 tbsp lemon juice
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp freshly ground pepper

Preparation:

• Gently simmer the lentils and three times the amount of water over a low heat for about 30 minutes until the water has evaporated. Then drain the lentils in a sieve, rinse with cold water and place in a bowl.
• Peel the garlic for the dressing and cut into fine pieces. Heat the olive oil slightly in a small pan. Then sauté the garlic, harissa and cumin for two minutes while stirring.
• Remove the pan from the heat and leave to cool slightly. In a small bowl, mix the agave syrup, olive oil, salt, pepper and lemon juice and then mix with the lentils.
• Finely slice the spring onions and use the green part too. Then halve the cucumber, remove the seeds with a spoon and cut it into small cubes together with the tomatoes.
• Finely chop the parsley and mint and cut the feta into cubes. Then mix everything with the cooked lentils.
• Pour the sautéed mixture of garlic, cumin and harissa over the salad and stir everything together. Cover the salad and leave to stand for an hour at room temperature. To finish, garnish with a wedge or slice of lemon.