Cashew, Celeriac & Spicy Lentil Bake

Ingredients

• 1 medium celeriac
• 350g cashews soaked in water (at least 5 hours)
• 2 sweet red peppers
• 1/2 can coconut milk
• 500g uncooked puy lentils/green lentils/mung beans
• 2 tbsp chilli flakes
• 400g pureed tomatoes- homemade or passata from a glass jar
• tsp oil – coconut/olive
• 3 cloves garlic
• 1 brown onion
• Handful fresh basil, coriander thyme or 1 tbsp each if using dried.
• 2 bay leaves
• Salt and pepper

Method

Cashew sauce

1. Firstly start by roasted the sweet red peppers until browned and soft.
   in a food processor blend the drained cashews, roasted peppers and coconut milk into a creamy and smooth sauce.

Celeriac

1. Peel and slice the celeriac thinly , boil this for approx 10 minutes until it becomes a little soft but doesn’t break apart.
2. Drain water, sprinkle a little salt over and let sit aside.

Lentil mix

1. Cook the lentils/beans as instructed on the packet, usually bring to boil and simmer between 35-45 minutes.
2. Whilst these are cooking, sauté the onion and garlic in a large saucepan with a little oil, once the onions have softened and turned a golden colour, add in the herbs and spice, cook for a further 2 minutes.
3. Pour in the tomato passata and bay leaves, bring to boil & let simmer for 10 minutes.
4. Remove the bay leaves & stir in the cooked lentils.

Layering your bake.

1. Preheat the oven to 180ºC
2. In a large baking dish pour all of the lentil mix in (unless your using two smaller baking dishes).
3. Next layer the celeriac just as you would pasta sheets in lasagne.
4. Take half of the cashew sauce and spread over the celeriac, add another layer of celeriac and again a layer of cashew sauce.
5. Bake for 25 minutes.