Rainbow Pie

                                     
I dreamt up today's recipe while at work, cooked it right after coming back home and I am very happy with it!

Apart from the nice colours,  thanks to lentils the dish has low glycemic index which makes it suitable for diabetics. It is also vegan, gluten and lactose free, but so full of taste!

If that was not enough, one portion prepared this way has only about 250 kcal.




Ingredients (for four people)

1,5 cup red split lentils
2 avocados
3 big red onions
100 ml Alpro Soya single cream
1/3 lime
1-2 cloves of garlic
olive oil
coarse ground black pepper
some cherry tomatoes
 2 tbs vegetable seasoning/ 2 stock cubes

Procedure:

1) Slice the red onions and put them in a pan with 1 tbs olive oil. Add 1-2 tea spoons of salt and a lot of black pepper for taste. Cook on low heat and don't let them burn- they should not actually fry, but become something like a purple relish.




2) At the same time cook lentils in about 2 cups water, with 2 tbs vegetable powder/2 stock cubes. If they soak it all up and are still uncooked, add some more, but do not add too much in advance, as they have to make a mash, not a soup. This should take about 20-30 minutes. Add 100 ml of the soy cream at the end of cooking and allow lentils to soak it up. The onion should be ready when the lentils are.

3) While waiting, mash (or chop very finely) the garlic and let it sit while the rest is cooking.

4) Just before serving mash up 2 avocados with 1-2 cloves of garlic. Squeeze in juice from about 1/3 lime (this is practically a guacamole).


 You can serve it as a big dish, or on individual plates. I recommend putting the mash first making a doughnut shape,  filling the hole in the 'doughnut' with the onion relish and topping everything with avocado mash. Decorate with cherry tomatoes.

Enjoy!

Tips:

The avocado works best if it is fully ripen- the peel should come off easily, and it should be enough to mash it with a fork. However it is often hard to get ripen avocados in a supermarket. If you are desperate and your avocados are hard as stones, put them into microwave oven for 5 minutes on 'defrost' program, then let stand until  they cool down, after which repeat the procedure (if you have more time and heating in the house, letting them sit on a radiator for a day also helps). Then use a blender instead of fork to mash them. They will taste less creamy, but still acceptable. On the plus side they will probably have a more radiant green colour this way.

Lentils have a strong orange  (why are they called red?) colour when raw which fades in the process of cooking. If you want to enhance the orange colour of the lentils, you can add about 2 tbs tumeric powder and a bit of paprika powder. If you like tumeric, you'll also enjoy the taste. Mind, though, that it makes the lentil mash taste a bit less creamy, and gives it a slight bitterness.

One tablespoon of olive oil for three huge red onions sounds like a small amount, and it is very tempting to add more; but believe me (if you have a non-stick pan) it is enough and they taste fine. Too much oil makes the dish too heavy, especially that we already have the cream and the avocados.