Stewed lentils with vegetables

All the vegetables necessary for this dish (carrots, onions, garlic, pumpkin, celery stalk) are peeled, washed and dried with paper towels.

Onion, carrot and celery stalk cut into small cubes of approximately the same size.

Pour olive oil into a deep frying pan with a thick bottom or a cauldron (you can cook in a saucepan with a thick bottom). Heat it and transfer all the previously chopped vegetables. Over medium heat, without covering with a lid, pass the onion, carrot and celery stalk for 10 minutes, until they become soft.

Pulp of ripe and juicy pumpkin finely diced. Crush the garlic with the flat side of a knife and chop finely. Throw the pumpkin and garlic into a frying pan with vegetables and simmer all together for another couple of minutes until the characteristic garlic flavor appears.

Rinse red lentils with water several times. Then drain the water, throwing the legumes on a sieve or colander. Pour the washed lentils into a frying pan with vegetables. Add spices: salt to taste, ground paprika, dried thyme and bay leaf. Mix it up. Pour in vegetable broth (can be replaced with regular drinking water). Cover the pan with a lid and bring the water to a boil over medium heat. Then reduce the heat to low and cook for another 20-25 minutes, until the lentils are soft.

Then pour a little lemon juice into the pan and add tomato paste. Mix all the ingredients together. Cover the pan with a lid again and cook for about 5 more minutes.

Taste the dish and, if necessary, add the necessary spices. Remove the pan from the heat.

Put the finished stewed lentils with vegetables on plates and sprinkle with chopped fresh herbs.

Bon appetit!