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–+ servings

Herby Halloumi Lentil Salad

Easy to make with just eight ingredients, this salad is a filling and protein packed vegetarian meal or side dish. This is a flexible recipe and you can layer on whatever fresh herbs you have available - so it turns out a little bit differently every time!
4 servings
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 5 minutes
5 from 2 ratings
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Ingredients

  • 450 g (3 cups) cooked lentils, see notes
  • 3 Tbsp green pesto, see notes
  • 1 lemon, juiced
  • 220 g (8 oz) cherry tomatoes, halved
  • 3-4 Tbsp red onion, finely chopped
  • 1 small red bell pepper, finely chopped
  • 225 g (7 oz) halloumi, cubed, see notes
  • 1 handful fresh herbs, basil, chives, parsley all work well here

Instructions 

  • In a large bowl, add the lentils and mix in the pesto and lemon juice until they are distributed into the lentils. Add salt and pepper to taste.
  • Add the cherry tomatoes, pepper and onion and toss through.
  • Finally, mix in the herbs, reserving a few pinches for topping the salad.
  • Pan fry your halloumi. Lightly oil a nonstick frying pan and turn the heat on to a medium setting. Once the pan is hot (you can test this by putting one piece of halloumi in and seeing if it sizzles) add the halloumi into the pan. Fry for 2 minutes on each side, until golden brown.
  • Mix the halloumi into the salad (or just lay it on top, as pictured) and scatter the remaining herbs.

Notes

Lentil Quantities, if using weights
The amount of lentils is fairly flexible here. It's OK if you have a little more or a little less. I personally find cups a little easier when dealing with cooked lentils because their weight will be somewhat impacted by water content so if you do have access to a measuring cup, aim for around 3 cups. A little less is fine. A little more is fine. Otherwise, if you need to use a scale, aim for 400-500g. 
  • If cooking from dried, your starting point would be 200g of dry lentils.
  • Two cans of lentils, drained and rinsed, would come in about the right amount.
  • Two pouches of ready cooked lentils may be at the higher end, but will work great. 
If you're using quite a lot of lentils, consider adding extra pesto. 
Halloumi 
This recipe can definitely handle a second block of halloumi if you'd rather have it super halloumi-packed or need to stretch between more people.
Pesto
If you have reeeeally amazing fresh summer tomatoes, you could get away with a little less pesto to let those tomatoes and their juices play more of a role. I tested this recipe a few times and the pesto quantity seemed to creep up as we left the summer months and the tomatoes got less perfect. With the most perfect tomatoes ever, the ones you don't want anything to overpower, just use 2 Tbsps of pesto.
Cuisine: European
Course: Salad
Calories: 378kcal, Carbohydrates: 31g, Protein: 24g, Fat: 19g, Saturated Fat: 10g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g, Monounsaturated Fat: 3g, Cholesterol: 1mg, Sodium: 791mg, Potassium: 628mg, Fiber: 11g, Sugar: 6g, Vitamin A: 1174IU, Vitamin C: 54mg, Calcium: 619mg, Iron: 5mg