I first came across the recipe in a small 4 star hotel in the highlands of Scotland when working with Gary Stevenson Head Chef at Rocpool Reserve in Inverness. I have since used it to complete many different dishes. It’s diverse because of the balance of flavours from seared cod to fillet of beef these lentils always impress.

Ingredients

• 100g Puy Lentils
• 1 pinch ground cumin
• 40g red onion finely chopped
• 25ml balsamic vinegar
• 1 clove garlic crushed
• 20g pickled ginger finely chopped
• 25ml soy sauce
• 1ltr chicken stock
• Chopped parsley to finish

Method

• Start by sweating your onions, garlic and cumin off in 2 table spoons of vegetable oil in a heavy based sauce pan before adding your lentils
• Gradually adding your chicken stock and simmering until lentils are cooked.
• Stir your vinegar, soy sauce and ginger and continue to cook out for 3 – 5 minutes to further infuse the flavours
• When reheating the lentils, use a small amount of chicken stock with 100g of butter.
• When boiling add the lentils and stir until heated through
• Finish the lentil with a generous amount of chopped parsley before serving