Ordinarily, lentils are a savoury food – they’re a delicious, fast way to get protein on a Meatless Monday or if you’re just in the mood for some Indian-inspired chow. So it was sort of exciting to stumble across this recipe for sweet spiced lentils – made with rooibos for added flavour, no less!

With the spices and apples in this not-quite-porridge, we naturally had to go to our trusty stash of Caramel Apple rooibos for the liquid. Can you blame us?

Definitely use red lentils in this; other lentils will work, but they’ll be much more toothsome – almost al dente – and you want more of a softer porridge consistency here.

Make up a big batch on Sunday and you can have breakfast for the week ready to go. Score!

Sweet Spiced Lentils
(adapted from SparkPeople and SimplyDish)

Ingredients

• 4 tablespoons of Caramel Apple rooibos
• 3 cups of water
• 1 cup red lentils (soaked for about four hours)
• 2 apples, diced
• 1 tbsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp clove
• 1 tsp turmeric (optional, but highly recommended)
• Optional: Maple syrup, coconut milk, almond milk, or cream

Procedure

1. Bring 3 cups of water to a boil in a saucepan, then remove from the heat and add the rooibos. Allow to steep for 15 minutes.
2. Strain the rooibos or remove the steeper you used, then add the lentils to your 3c of delicious tisane.
3. Bring the lentils and the rooibos to a low boil,  then reduce heat to low to medium.
4. After about ten minutes, add in diced apple and spices.
5. Stir and then cook for 25-30 minutes, until the lentils are mushy.
6. Serve in small bowls, and drizzle of maple syrup and a generous splash of coconut milk, cream, or almond milk.

Serves 4.