Are you looking for a filling veggie meal that’s easy to make? Try my easy vegan chicory and lentil salad. You’d be surprised how a handful of ingredients makes such a big plate of food.
Jump to RecipeGluten-free, Vegetarian, Vegan, Dairy-free, Lactose-free, Soy-free
Table of Contents
What ingredients are in this salad?
I always look for new ingredients that I can use for my cooking. So I came across red chicory, sometimes called radicchio.
It’s a leafy vegetable with many health benefits that I think is often overlooked.
I used it in a simple salad, which turned out to be surprisingly tasty, and most importantly also quick and easy to prepare.
There are layers of flavours there that work together just beautifully.
Celery and parsley bring lots of aromas, carrot some sweetness, and those beautiful dark red chicory leaves some crunch. Lemon adds a bit of sourness to the slightly salty dressing that brings the whole dish together.
Above all, every single vegetable in this salad has numerous cancer-fighting properties, what’s not to like?
What are the health benefits of the ingredients?
Red chicory
Unlike lettuce, chicory is known for its slightly bitter flavour and nice texture. It is rich in antioxidants, boosts the immune system. It also contributes to strong and healthy bones due to its high level of vitamin K.
Red chicory is a rich source of flavonoids and carotenoids that show strong anti-cancer properties.
Carrot
Carrot is a root vegetable and is probably one of the most accessible and versatile vegetables around, liked by many for its sweet flavour. Carrots come in many colours ranging from the most common orange to white, yellow, red or purple.
Carrots contain many different nutrients and vitamins and have impressive health benefits and cancer-fighting properties. I use an orange coloured carrot in this recipe for its high beta-carotene content, shown to reduce the risk of breast cancer.
Read more about the benefits of carrots here.
Celery
Celery is an incredibly versatile vegetable, great for salads, snacking, soups and stews. It’s very aromatic and flavours any dish.
Celery is popular for its crunchy stalks, high water content and low calories. It’s packed with vitamins and has antioxidant, anti-fungal and anti-inflammatory properties.
Read more about the benefits of celery here.
Parsley
Parsley is a widely used herb that smells amazing and enhances the flavour of every dish.
It’s a rich source of vitamins and plant chemicals that protect against many diseases, including breast cancer. It has antioxidant, anti-bacterial, anti-inflammatory and anti-fungal properties. There are 2 common varieties of parsley: flat-leaf and curly-leaf. And I picked fresh, flat-leaf parsley for this recipe.
Read more about the benefits of parsley here.
Red onion
Onions are members of allium vegetables and are effective when fighting and preventing breast cancer.
They help improve immunity and are antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and associated with a lower risk of breast cancer. I use red onion in this recipe. If you cannot get hold of it, feel free to use any type of onion.
Read more about the benefits of onions here.
I always eat this salad with green lentils that are a rich source of protein. I love their nutty flavour that completes the dish perfectly.
My easy and tasty chicory and lentil salad quickly became one of the staples in my diet.
I hope you enjoy it as much as I do!
Quick note: this salad is not recommended during your chemo treatments. Its aromatic ingredients may upset your sensitive stomach, and also because all the vegetables are raw.
Easy chicory and lentil salad
Ingredients
- 1 red chicory
- 1 carrot, peeled, preferably organic
- 1 celery stalk, preferably organic
- half of small red onion
- small bunch of flat-leaf parsley
- 1/4 cup green lentils, soaked for at least 3 hours
- 2 small bay leaves
- 1 tsp lemon juice
- 2 tsp extra virgin olive oil
- a pinch of salt
Instructions
- Wash your vegetables thoroughly.Cook lentils in boiling water, flavoured with 2 bay leaves, until soft and drain. Lentils usually cook way before you finish making the salad.
- Cut celery stalk lengthwise in half and then chop into around 2-3mm thick slices.Slice carrot with a potato peeler into ribbons and cut any long ribbons in half.Roughly chop parsley, cut chicory leaves across in half and finely chop onion.
- For the dressing: in a little bowl whisk 1 teaspoon of lemon juice with 2 teaspoons of extra virgin olive oil until well combined and season it with salt.
- Mix all vegetables and chopped parsley in a bowl, pour the dressing all over and mix well again, making sure the vegetables are nicely dressed.Serve with cooked, warm lentils in the middle.
