Hi, foodies in the Hive!

I hope you're doing well and that you all continue to fit into your clothes 😀 I'm doing what I can 😂

How good it feels to eat real food: nourishing, tasty, healthy, and satisfying.

Today I want to share with you one of those recipes that you discover by accident or almost by accident, when time takes you by the hand and tell you to run; then you discover you have short legs and ask for help to your long-legged leftovers in the fridge. It took me three days to make these lentil & quinoa croquettes. It was serendipity; we totally loved them, and one great advantage is that you can freeze them for days.

The main foods on our breakfast table were lentil & quinoa croquettes and manoosh. I had some baba ganoush (left) and avocado dip with black olives and srping onions (bottom) in the fridge. It was a feast made of leftovers, basically.

These croquettes were the queens of breakfast. I made them by mixing lentil leftover croquette batter and leftover seasoned quinoa.

Lentil and Quinoa Croquettes (air-fried)

To make these croquettes, I used:

200gr lentils soaked overninght
1 cup chopped parsley
2 cups chopped onions
2 tablespoons crushed garlic
1 tablespoon freshly cracked black pepper
1 tablespoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon hot paprika
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
Olive oil to brush the croquettes after air-fried

The first step was to wash and drain the lentinls.

I washed the onion and parsley well and chopped them so that my blender wouldn't work too hard.

I added all ingredients in the blender glass, except for half of the parsley and onion, which I would add later.

My blender is not the ideal appliance for this, so I had to help it out a bit, scraping as I went along and pushing the ingredients into the blades a bit. When I do this, I sweat from nerves; one of my silicone pastry spoons lost its tip once.

It came out really well.

Then I chopped the rest of the parsley and onion and added them to the lentil batter. I mixed now by hand.

I fried some for dinner that day and stored the rest in the fridge. By that moment, I had no idea I'd mix that with leftover quinoa.

You can check out how I prepared the seasoned quinoa here: I washed the quinoa very well under the tap until the water came out clear; then I boiled it three times its volume, with a little salt, crushed garlic, and finely chopped vegetables (red pepper, green pepper, aji dulce, and onion). It was fully cooked in 15 minutes.

It is important to wash the quinoa seeds well prior to cooking to eliminate as much as possible the anti-nutrients it contains (saponins, tannins, phytic acid). This way you can make the most of your portion of quinoa, which contains antioxidant and anti-inflammatory plant compounds. Besides, quinoa will add protein to our croquettes; remember it contains all nine essential amino acids that our body cannot produce on its own.

After a couple of days, I had a fridge full of leftovers. I got a little creative.

I mixed the lentil batter and the seasoned quinoa to make little patties that I air-fried.

The mixture was a dream. I had serious doubts that I could air fry these patties, but the mixture was soft and firm.

You can see the croquettes below, before they went into my little electric oven which is also an air-fryer.

I didn't use oil to cook them, so they took a little while to be done. They took 35 min at 300 °F. I drizzled olive oil over them when I served them at the table.

I made 18 patties; we ate 6 and I freezed the rest.

Manoosh

I love simple manoosh. It's flat bread topped with za'atar and olive oil. You may know it as Libanese Pizza (man'oushe). You may have seen it with several toppings.

To make manoosh for 2-4, I used:

2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon instant yeast
1 cup warm water
1 teaspoon cane sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon olive oil

olive oil and za'atar to taste

I used 2 tablespoons of olive oil and 1 heaping tablespoonful of za'atar to rup each loaf.

Za'atar is a blend of aromatic herbs and spices. This blend I used was a gift from a Libanese friend, and I've kept it in my freezer ever since. It's been there for a couple of years--or more.

Za'atar is used throughout the Middle East. and its recipe varies--as it happens with curry in India--; cumin, oregano, coriander, sesame seeds, and sumac are commonly found in za'atar. The blend I'm using also has pistacchios.

To make the dough

First, I sifted the flour.

Added the yeast.

Added the sugar.

Added the salt.

Added the water, mixed a little, and added the oil.

I kneaded until the mixture came off my fingers, about 5 minutes. Then I formed the dough into a ball and let it rise for half an hour, covered with a kitchen towel.

After half an hour, I kneaded a little again and checked the texture. It was good: soft, firm, and flexible.

I divided the dough into two halves, greased my hands, and worked each section to form a flat disk. I took my little rolling pin out but I didn't need it. No need to flour the countertop either.

With my hands well greased in olive oil, I flattened the dough with my fingertips against the counter, shaped it into a round shape and then carefully folded it to put it into the hot pan. There I carefully unfolded it.