Black Bean And Lentil Shashlik

I thought I’d try something slightly different last night, usually when I make a shashlik curry I use quorn pieces or mince, but seeing as I’d bought a bag of black beans, I thought I’d use them instead. And I’m really glad I did!

One of the many good things about living in Chorlton is the range and availability of produce and ingredients. One which I’m particularly grateful for is The Hungry Gecko Shashlik Paste

I first fell in love with The Hungry Gecko’s food when Jackie set up her Winnebago in the garden of The Beech Inn. Many a Saturday lunch was spent eating amazing far eastern street food cooked by a Masterchef finalist, so I was delighted when Frosts the Butchers starting selling this delicious paste.

Anyway, for this recipe, you’ll need

1 cup/jar of black beans
Half a jar of shashlik paste
6 tablespoons of mixed lentils
1 onion
1 pepper
1 tin of chopped tomatoes
4 cloves of garlic
6-8 closed cup mushrooms
Tomato Purée
1 teaspoon of chia seeds (optional)
1 teaspoon of mustard seeds (optional)

This is such an easy dish to make, thanks to the amazing taste of the paste. I didn’t use a tin of beans so I soaked the black beans and lentils overnight. Prior to cooking the main dish, I cooked the black beans for 30 minutes and left to the side.

Method

Slice the garlic fine, then in a large saucepan, heat some oil and fry the garlic and seeds (if you’re using them) for 2-3 minutes. Then add the black beans and fry them for a further 2 minutes.

Add the onion and pepper next, I chopped them chunky so that they retained some crunch. Once they’ve softened slightly, add the magic ingredient, the paste!

Stir everything together with the paste and savour the aroma, if it doesn’t get you salivating, I’d get to the doctor to get checked out. After a few minutes, stir in the tomatoes, drain the lentils and add them.

I used a cup of water and a squeeze of tomato purée to create more sauce, this will thicken up brilliantly during the cooking process, so don’t worry if it all looks a bit liquidy.

Let the pot simmer for half an hour and that’s it! Keep stirring occasionally and after thirty minutes, you’ll have a delicious, cheap and healthy dish. This will make 4 portions, so for me, that’s two for the plates and two for the freezer.

I served this with jasmine rice and a roti. So easy to do, so easy to eat and enjoy!

As someone with no culinary training, I welcome feedback and advice on improvements. I hope you enjoy this dish as much as I did.