Lentil pizza
My life is pretty stressful at the moment. It’s all stress that comes from good sources, but still… stress. And where do I turn when I’m stressed?
Pizza, obviously.
I know I should find a healthier stress reliever, but for now I’d say the pizza is doing its job pretty well.
In an effort to get a bit more nutrition into my go-to comfort food, I added… lentils. I’m not mad, I swear. In fact, wonderful things happen when you bring two different things together.
Frisbee + golf = frisbee golf!
McDonalds chips + strawberry milkshake = a bizarrely delicious meal.
Tomatoes + salt = suddenly tomatoes are the best thing ever.
Indian dal + Italian pizza = this masterpiece. Lentil pizza!
Honestly I don’t think a plain cheese pizza will ever bore me (pizza for dinner every night? Obviously), but if you prefer to mix things up a bit, I’d really recommend you give this version a go. The touch of garam masala in the lentils give it a slightly Indian feel, which I carried on through the toppings – fresh coriander, red onions and a few big slices of tomato.
By the way, I know I’ve been totally obsessed with lentils lately. Lentil burgers, lentil sausage rolls, lentil loaves… they’ve taken over from spinach as my ingredient of choice. Annoyingly, my fiancé doesn’t like these either. I really must try harder to cook stuff he likes, whoops.
(at least it means there’s more for me…)
- 75g red lentils
- 400ml vegetable stock
- 1/4 tsp garam masala
- 1tbsp tomato purée
- Black pepper
- 2 pizza bases
- 75g cheddar cheese, grated
- 1/2 red onion, thinly sliced
- 1 large tomato, sliced
- 4tbsp fresh coriander, chopped
- Add the red lentils to the stock, and simmer, stirring regularly, until the lentils are very soft, around 20 minutes. You’ll need to stir more often as the stock gets absorbed to ensure they don’t stick to the pan. Continue cooking and stirring until the mixture has become fairly thick. Add the garam masala, tomato purée and plenty of black pepper, and mix well.
- Heat the oven to 190°C (Gas Mark 5 / 375°F).
- Spread the lentil mixture evenly over the two pizza bases, and scatter with grated cheese. Add the slices of red onion and tomato, and bake for around 30 minutes, until the cheese is crispy.
- Serve topped with the fresh coriander.
If you enjoy cheesy lentils, you might also like to try my cheesy pumpkin lentil pot pies:
Brilliant idea! I never think to use lentils outside of soup but I’m loving this idea! Pinned!
PS I just started following you on twitter and I can’t wait to see what you’re up to next. :)
Thanks Tina! And thanks for the follow – although I must admit, I’m not the best tweeter (twitterer?!) – I seem to go through phases where I forget it exists haha. If you’d prefer regular updates, you might be better off following me on Facebook! :)
Becca, this has come along at a fantastic time. I have recently come back from holiday and am still a bit jet lagged and cotton-headed, but obviously we all need to eat. I know I have some leftover Puy lentils in the freezer from one of my cancer nutrition classes, as well as some pizza bases. This recipe is so inventive but super easy – love it. Tonight’s dinner is sorted! Thank you :-)
I love making a decent meal out of leftovers! Enjoy :)
I think this looks fantastic! I plan to try it out as a topping for my monthly pizza parties and see if any one else bites.
this looks so good!!
I just want to say that I LOVE your recipes! I came across your website about three weeks ago and have used it repeatedly ! I joined a farm share where I get a bunch of different veggies, fruits, etc each week and alot of the stuff I had never used and so am always looking for recipes that I can use with the items I get each week. Also, have been a vegetarian for many years and a lazy cook so love the ease of your recipes. Keep it up! Thanks!
Aw thanks so much Megan! Really glad you like my site :D hope to see you back here soon!
I would say that pizza is probably more of a lesser evil…I mean you could be turning to alcohol and cigarettes!
I love this Indian-pizza fusion!
Haha YES! That’s what I will tell myself from now on. I’m thinking even pizza, chips and doughnuts is still probably better than cigarettes, no…? ;)
Two of my favorite things, lentils and pizza. Perfect!
Stressful life always warrants delicious pizza!! Ben would love this – he’s a lentil addict!
He’s got good taste! ;)
I love this idea! Pizza and lentils are two of my favorite things…makes sense to mash them together!!
So random, I wrote about garam masala today myself! Or actually the lack there of. I would like to try the real stuff soon though :)
Haha is garam masala hard to find where you are? I just like to keep a jar in the cupboard, they last forever and come in handy more often than you might think :)
Haha, no. I just don’t have any more room in my spice rack and I hate buying things and then only using them once. Although now that I found your recipe I at least have two things to use it in!!
Fantastic idea! I have never seen such pizza before! That means I will have to try it!
it’s so funny, I was just eating a lentil salad for lunch yesterday and thinking I needed more lentils in my life!! this looks absolutely delicious becca, great post!
Thanks Christine! I would say everyone needs more lentils in their life, but I’ve been eating so many lately that I think I should ease off a bit haha
This looks so delicious. I love homemade pizza so finding new recipes to try out is always fun!
Never tried a lentil pizza before. By the way, your pizza looks absolutely delicious. I should try this recipe!
This dish looks very tasty and I love the idea of garam masala as I like Indian food.
excellent idea!
I was just looking at an article on making pizza healthier [lower fat or better quality cheese, 16 grain crust, etc.] and this is right up my alley! Hope my traditionalist partner will also enjoy it ;)
Haha well I must admit I’m sometimes a bit of a traditionalist myself but I still loved this, so hopefully they’ll go for it!!
Frankly I think this sounds absolutely genius! Can’t wait to give them a go.
how creative!! this means i can have indian and italian food at once :)
Friday night pretty much demands pizza in our apartment, so I’m always looking for fun new twists. ADORE this one!