Rose Harissa, Date & Lentil Stew

Wow, what a recipe if I do say so myself!! 
I haven't created a flavourful one pot stew in a long time and I think this is the perfect recipe to introduce this style of cooking back into my repertoire. 

My Rose Harissa, Date & Lentil Stew is ideal for meal prep and goes down a treat at family gatherings too. 

The highlight and possibly unusual ingredient in this dish, is the addition of Rose Harissa Paste - a fragrant paste from North Africa, with red hot chillies, herbs, spices, garlic and rose petals. 

If you can’t find rose harissa (the brand I use is by Belazu), standard harissa is more than fine also.

Some other ingredients worth mentioning in this recipe, are the medjool dates, which melt into the strew and add a sweet caramel flavour, as well as tahini, to cut the heat from the harissa paste and provide an irresistible richness!
 
Enjoy!

Love Alex, Ballerina Bites. Xx
PS: Be sure to tag me @ballerina_bites  so I can see your wonderful recreations.

Ingredients
1 red onion, diced
500g brown button mushrooms, diced
3 garlic cloves, crushed
2 large carrots, diced
3 heaping tbsp rose harissa paste or standard harissa paste
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp smoked paprika
4 medjool dates, pitted and chopped into small pieces
2 cups whole green lentils
2x 400ml cans of plum tomatoes
800ml water
Salt & Pepper to taste
½ cup tahini
A large bag of chopped kale
Lemon wedges to serve

Method
In a large saucepan, add a glug of water or oil and set heat to medium.

Add the diced onion, mushrooms and season with S&P.
Begin to saute until the onion becomes translucent and the mushroom juices have evaporated.
Stir in the garlic, carrots, harissa paste, ground cumin, smoked paprika, medjool dates and allow to fry until it smells fragrant. 

Now stir in the green lentils, canned tomatoes, water, S&P to taste and bring to a boil.
Once boiling, reduce the heat to a simmer and cover with a lid ajar. 

Allow to simmer for 1 hour- stirring throughout.

Serve the stew with a grain of choice and a wedge of lemon.
 Potato or pasta is also a delicious option too! 

Serves 6