While in London recently, I attended a brunch event at a lovely restaurant called Amber (in Aldgate, for anyone keen to visit!), hosted by one of my favourite UK-based influencers, Tally Rye. I went on my own, and met lots of lovely people from England, Scotland and elsewhere, who were living in London. I had been to Amber before and tried the evening menu, but the breakfast game was a whole other level. It really reminds me of Brother Hubbard here in Dublin actually – quite a Middle East-inspired menu, which I’ve decided is the cuisine I would live off forever if I had to pick! At the end of the brunch, we got to try some of the salads, and one stood out to me as being utterly delicious and simple in it’s ingredients. It was a lentil and beetroot salad, with just a touch of yoghurt on top – gorgeous. After my cookery course earlier this year, I wanted to work on a beetroot-themed salad for the blog, and this was the perfect reminder! I picked up dried mint recently during a food shop, and I’m totally chuffed with the fantastic flavour kick it gives the yoghurt dressing here. It’s a great recipe as a side dish for dinner, or as a light lunch option on it’s own too! I’ve bulked it out a bit for lunches by adding some chickpeas as well so feel free to get creative!

Recipe (Serves 2)

Ingredients

For The Salad

• 3 Small Cooked Beets (I use the cooked Chef brand and slice the whole beets and then quarter the slices – you can also buy pre-sliced)
• 200g of Pre-Cooked Lentils (I use the tinned variety from Biona & Epicure)
• 1 handful of spinach

For The Dressing

• 1 tsp wholegrain mustard
• Juice of 1/2 Lemon
• 1 tsp extra virgin olive oil
• 1/2 tsp dried mint
• 3 tbsp natural yoghurt
• A twist of black pepper

Method

1. First, mix up the dressing ingredients in a small bowl, and set aside. Always give the dressings you make little taste tests as you go!
2. Second, if you’ve bought the pre-cooked lentils, then drain and rinse them, and add them to a bowl. If you have lentils you need to cook, do so according to the package instructions.
3. Wash the spinach leaves, and shred them into smaller pieces with your hands. Add them to the bowl of lentils.
4. Slice the beetroots into coin shapes, and then quarter those. Add the beetroot to the bowl.
5. Mix the beets, spinach and lentils together. To finish, spoon 2 tablespoons of the dressing into the salad to coat everything, and then drizzle another tablespoon on top (mostly to make it pretty!)

Enjoy guys! Tag me if you try this out – @theirishbalance on Instagram/Twitter/Facebook!

Ciara 🙂 x