Red Lentil Cakes

Here is a recipe that I developed based on an idea my friend Grady gave me. Grady has lived and cooked in India and shared a fermented rice and lentil cake recipe. Since our family is on a GAPS diet journey, he encouraged me to try it without the rice. And try it I have - many times now and with different types of lentils. It also took me a while to figure out what to serve them with, but when my MIL was in town I finally created a really yummy guacamole-chutney type dish. I am still searching for the perfect vegetable accompaniment, fresh ripe tomatoes are lovely and tomorrow I will be adding some sauteed greens to the table.

A note about this recipe - it takes two days! There is fermenting involved, and while some may find it too complicated I love it. I love knowing what is for dinner and it feels pretty easy to whip up. Another benefit is that my husband really likes to fry things, and he is good at it. This makes it an easy meal for us to tag team on during that busy hectic pre-dinner time.

2 cups red lentils
2 cups water

1 T cumin powder
1 T cumin seeds
small pinch asafoetida
1/2 bunch cilantro - washed and finely chopped
salt
coconut milk (optional) - if your batter seems dry you can thin it a bit with coconut milk
coconut oil - for frying

Day 1)Wash red lentils in several changes of water. Then soak them for about 24 hrs in 2 cups of fresh filtered water. Make sure they are covered. I usually do this at night. I tend to do alot of cooking after the little ones are asleep.


Day 2)The next night drain the water from the lentils, but be careful to reserve all the liquid. Then place lentils in a food processor and blend until they are creamy. Put the lentils back in a the soaking dish and pour the reserved liquid back on top of the lentils. Make sure there is some space in your soaking dish as the lentils will expand. Cover and let them ferment. ****Note about the fermenting process, if the weather is warm, you can ferment for shorter periods of time. Here is a picture of the lentils after I ground them up.

Day 3)Season and Fry!!!! Yummm. I consider the amounts of seasoning to be a guideline. We don't add anything too spicy because we have little kids, but someday I will try that option. Frying in coconut oil makes them delicious. We fry them in pretty small patties to make them easy to flip. As you may know red lentils turn yellow when they are cooked, so when your cakes are yellow - they are done!

Guacamole/Chutney
2 medium avocados
1/2 bunch cilantro - washed and finely chopped
4-6 sprigs fresh mint - washed and finely chopped
1/2 cup homemade coconut yogurt
1/2 juice of one lemon (make sense?)
1/3 cup shredded unsweetened coconut
1 teaspoon cumin powder
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1 tablespoon honey - optional - and if you use commercial coconut yogurt it will be sweet, so you may want to omit the honey

Mix it all up, taste and tweak. I prefer to mix and mash by hand because I like the chunky quality of the avocado, but you could also use a food processor.