Just to make my feelings about this stew perfectly clear from the get-go, it’s a delicious, sensuous middle eastern dish with a lovely balance of flavours and makes a great leftover, so I heartily encourage you to cook it soon. With a side of spiced rice and topped with some chopped greens, it makes a very healthy and satisfying evening meal.
One Saturday in February, Colm and I were tired of the Midlands and took the train to London for some urban stimulation. It was a very lucky day. We got a refund for the too-expensive train tickets we bought, happened upon an incredible knitting store which doubles as a bar at night, and found a sweet little Persian restaurant on the edge of the Covent Garden area which wouldn’t have been able to take us a minute sooner or later. That was the inspiration for this recipe – the vegetarian section of the menu at Simurgh had an ‘apricots and spinach’ dish that caught our attention. I ordered it, took notes in my diary and started the experimenting back at home. We went back in May and I ordered it again for a bit more research. I think the chef had gone vinegar-happy that night, so I’ve adjusted the amount here for my tastes.
Apricot Lentil Stew with Allspice and Coriander
Adapted from ‘Apricots and Spinach’ at Simurgh in Covent Garden, London
1 cup brown lentils, washed, then soaked for several hours in warm water
1 pinch asafoetida
2 TBS olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped in quarters, then thinly sliced into arc-shapes
2 large cloves of garlic, minced
1 generous tsp ground allspice
1 scant tsp ground cumin
1 scant tsp ground coriander
8-9 apricots, sliced into quarters
handful sultanas
handful chopped cilantro
2.5 TBS balsamic vinegar
½ cube vegetable stock
4 cups water
1/2 – 1 tsp salt
fresh ground pepper
optional garnish: chopped spinach leaves
In a soup pot, dissolve the 1/2 cube of vegetable stock in 4 cups of water. Add the lentils and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer. Meanwhile, heat the oil in a soup pot on medium heat. You will know it’s hot enough when it shimmers in the pan a bit, but don’t let it overheat. Add the onion, give it a stir and cook until it’s translucent and sweet. Add the garlic and stir; cook for a minute, long enough to take the edge off. Add the allspice, cumin and coriander powder; stir and cook a few minutes, until fragrant. Now add your dried fruits and the vinegar; stir so that the fruit soak up the vinegar and are covered in the spices. Toss in the coriander leaves (cilantro); stir again, then add this mixture to the lentils, along with the salt. Let simmer another half hour or so, until the lentils and fruits are nice and soft. Taste for pepper and salt.
If you need more greens in your diet, and many of us do, toss some into your bowl before you pour the soup on: watercress, baby spinach or arugula/rocket would be very nice. Adding the greens to the bowl instead of the soup pot will keep your stew leftovers free of soggy, darkened greens the next day, and pouring the hot stew over them in the bowl still wilts them enough to stir in with the soup without overcooking them.
