Chipotle Lentil Tacos

This post has been added to Southern Plate’s Meal Plan Monday linkup 🙂

This is a sponsored post for SunRice.

“I wonder how many lentils I’ve ever eaten in all my life?”

I’ll always fondly remember this humble pulse as the staple diet of my favourite 80s pals The Young Ones. Neil the hippie was forever trying to make their student dollar stretch by eating boring health food everyone hated, like lentils and chickpeas.

To be honest, it’s 2014 and I still sometimes think of lentils as hippie food.

Other cultures have nailed chickpeas, lentils, brown rice – all that stuff I used to turn my nose up at and now can’t get enough of. Middle Eastern flavours, Indian spices, and Moroccan influences can make just about anything taste good, but have an especial affinity with lentils. Which meant I went from avoidance to abundance after my first spoonful of dhal. What was this glorious concoction? And how could I make it appear in my fridge every day?

SunRice has conveniently packaged lentils and brown rice together so you can get twice the goodness in half the time – providing you with a delicious source of fibre and protein. . That’s always going to be super-useful for carboholic vegetarians like me. Plus it’s cooked in 25 minutes, and is easy to double so you have an extra batch on hand for salads or to add as fillings in other dishes.

Now the weather is warming up, we’re eating even more Mexican-inspired dishes at VMHQ, including my favourite chipotle lentil tacos. I experimented with the SunRice brown rice/lentil combo (would the brown rice make them too chewy?) and was stoked. Enjoy being hip instead of hippie, my lentil friends!

Chipotle Lentil Rice Tacos

Print recipe

Ingredients

1 cup SunRice Rice and Lentil mix, rinsed
2 cups water
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 Large onion, diced fine
2 Large cloves garlic, minced
1/4 Small red capsicum, diced fine
1/2 tin Chipotle Chilies in Adobo Sauce (about 5-6), chopped
1 can tomato puree or diced tomatoes
1 tablespoon cumin
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
1 cup water (up to)
small tortillas
taco accompaniments - cheese, tomato, avocado, lettuce, sour cream, red onion, avocado, jalapeno, hot sauce, and coriander are our favourites

Directions

Step 1
Cook rice and lentils according to package directions – one cup of rice and lentils to two cups water with a big pinch of salt. Bring to a boil, then simmer 25 minutes with the lid on.
Step 2
Heat olive oil in a large frying pan over medium heat. Sauté onion and capsicum until soft. Add garlic and sauté 1 minute.
Step 3
Add lentils and rice, canned tomatoes, cumin, coriander, paprika, salt and a pinch of sugar. Let simmer 10 minutes until flavours come together and everything is heated through.
Step 4
Keep adding water if you feel it is getting too thick (you want it more of a risotto sort of thing rather than a fried rice sort of thing).
Step 5
Test for seasoning – I like to add a bit more salt here and ensure there’s plenty of cumin.
Step 6
Leave to cool a little and serve with warm tortillas and cold accompaniments. Yum!