Last Updated on May 19, 2020 by Chef Mireille
Azefa – Ethiopian Lentil Salad
This vegan and gluten free Lentil Salad infused with mustard seed and black pepper makes a delicious protein packed option to complete your healthy meal.
How many of you own a Madhur Jaffrey cookbook? If you are a lover of Indian food, one of her cookbooks is required in your home library.
I have a few of her Indian cookbooks, however my favorite cookbook of hers is World Vegetarian. This cookbook features vegetarian recipes from around the world, although many of them are still Indian.
This recipe was inspired by one of the recipes from this cookbook. However, I made some changes because when I made it the first time following the recipe to a T, I found the mustard too overpowering. It practically opened up my sinuses when eating a spoonful of the salad.
I have adapted the recipe to my palate and now I find the salad more user friendly. I may have strayed from the traditional Ethiopian recipe, but I think all recipes should be a template but not a road map. We can tweak and adjust all recipes to our own personal preferences.
The salad can be served chilled or room temperature. It makes a perfect summertime dish as you won’t have to spend too much time cooking.
Serve it as a vegan entree or for meat eaters, you can serve it with some grilled chicken or shrimp!
Before we get to today’s recipe, you might want to check out some of these other delicious African Recipes!
African Recipes
- Asa Tibs – Ethiopian Fried Fish
- Senegalese Tankora Black Eyed Pea Salad
- Doro Wat – Ehtiopian Chicken Stew
- Itakiet – NIgerian Bean Stew
- Githeri – Kenyan Vegetable Bean Stew
- Kuku – Kenyan Chicken Mung Bean Stew
- Nhopi – Zimbabwe Pumpkin Polenta
- Chicken Palaver – Ghanian Chicken Spinach
- Tatale – Ghanian Plantain Fritters
- Mealie Cakes – Lesotho Cornmeal Biscuits
Azefa – Ethiopian Lentil Salad
Ingredients
- 1 cup brown lentils
- 1 teaspoon brown mustard seed
- 4 black peppercorns
- 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 3 tablespoons lemon juice
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 small bell pepper chopped
- 2 tablespoons cilantro finely chopped
- salt to taste
Instructions
- Bring lentils and 4 cups of water to a boil.
- Reduce to a simmer and cook for 30 minutes, until lentils are just tender.
- Drain immediately and run with cold water.
- Using a coffee/spice grinder, grind mustard seed, black pepper and cayenne pepper to a fine powder.
- Transfer the spice powder to a bowl and add boiling water. Stir to combine.
- Add lemon juice and slowly drizzle in olive oil, while whisking constantly.
- In a large bowl, combine lentils, bell pepper, cilantro and salt.
- Add dressing and stir to combine.
- Serve chilled or at room temperature.
Notes
Nutrition
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I love lentils in just about any incarnation, so I'm always looking for new ways to try them. I think I'd really like a bright spinach salad with this. Thanks for sharing it.
Quite an interesting salad, never heard about this nutritious dish.
this looks & sounds delicious.I am new to Ethiopian dishes,thanks for introducing this protein rich dish.I will try this soon….
Thanks a lot for sending this to event at my space…
Very new for me.. Ethiopian cuisine.. thanks for sharing
Wish you a happy and healthy new year!
I own one of her books. 🙂 Guess what, when I saw the mustard and pepper description, I thought it sounds close to India. 🙂 We too don’t use ground mustard that much in our cooking and I don’t think even I can handle that much of mustard. Kudos to your enthusiastic approach to new cuisines and tastes. This Ethopian salad is a healthy and filling one with a spicy kick. Looking forward to your other salads in the series.
yes the mustard in the original recipe was overpowering, but now it is a delicious one!
Happy new year to you Mir!
This is a new dish to me but it’s so nutritious and looks really interesting. Thanks for sharing.
Happy New Year! I am sure you will like it. It has awesome flavor!
That’s such a healthy and delicious Ethiopian dish. I am yet to explore the cuisine , you have quite a collection. Will come again to find some more recipes.
Yes it makes a great side salad to any meal!
Interesting way of preparing a dressing, mixing spice powders in boiling water. I like mustard in yogurt dressing but can’t handle too much of it either. I will give this salad a try sometime soon as I like lentil/bean salads.
Very healthy and nutritious ethiopian lentil salad. love the dressing and it must have infused so much flavors.
It is with the fresh. mustard seed it really is such an explosion of flavors in the mouth!