I’m all about eating non-boring salads. One great way to ensure a good salad is by filling it with lots of ingredients, so obviously you need to have more than just lettuce. Mexican food is one of my favourite cuisines to cook, but sometimes I don’t want to eat something heavy like a burrito. So taco salad is a great way to get all the yummy flavours/components of Mexican food, but without the heaviness.

Normally if I were to make taco ground beef, I would either use real ground beef or veggie ground crumbles. This time though, I tried something new! I made lentil taco meat. I used a can of lentils (great shortcut if you don’t have a lot of time) and seasoned it in a similar way in which I would normally. It turned out amazing and looked pretty similar to regular taco beef. This lentil mixture would be great in many other recipes, especially nachos.

Aside from the lentils, I had a variety of other toppings which helped make my salad so tasty, and really colourful. I had tomato, corn kernels, avocado and cheese. I also made a simple crema made with greek yogurt. It acted as a creamy dressing and added a little extra brightness.

Lentil Taco Meat:

• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 onion, chopped
• 540ml can lentils, drained and rinsed (or ~2 cups cooked lentils)
• 2 tsp chili powder
• 1 tsp oregano
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp pepper
• 1 tbsp water

Greek Yogurt Crema:

• 1/4 cup plain greek yogurt (DF/vegan: use DF coconut yogurt)
• 1 tbsp water (or more, depending on desired consistency)
• 1 tsp apple cider vinegar
• 1 tsp lemon juice
• 1/2 tsp honey (vegan: use maple syrup)
• 1/8 tsp cumin

Remaining Ingredients:

• 2 cups romaine lettuce, shredded
• 8 cherry tomato, sliced
• 1 avocado, diced
• 1/4 cup corn kernels
• 1/3 cup shredded cheese (DF/vegan: use DF cheese or omit)

Directions:

1. Lentil taco meat: In large pan, heat oil over medium heat. Add onion and saute until soft, 3-4 minutes. Stir in lentils, all spices and water. Mix and let cook until hot. Taste mixture, adding more salt and pepper, if necessary.
2. Greek yogurt crema: In small bowl, combine all crema ingredients, adding extra water (1 tsp at a time) until desired consistency is reached. I made mine pretty thin so that I could easily drizzle it over my salad.
3. Assemble salads: Divide lettuce among 4 bowls. Spoon ~1/4 cup lentil taco meat (you may have extras) onto each bowl, followed by some of all the other toppings. Finish it off with ~1 tbsp of the crema (you may also have some extra of this). Enjoy!
4. Store any leftovers separately in the fridge for up to 3 days.