Lentil and Carrot Pâté

During my times as an undergraduate I flirted with vegetarianism. Unlike my flatmate at the time, who had a range of 'I am a cute little pig/lamb/chick please do not eat me' t-shirts, I became a vegetarian first as a reaction to the failure of the caterers at my university halls of residence to cook anything appetising, by my own inability to cook meat and the ease of sharing cooking with my vegi flatmate when I moved into a shared flat.

For the most part I enjoyed my life as a vegetarian, the meals that we concocted in the overcrowded kitchen of our student flat were often experimental and less than successful, but we had fun creating them. I did, however discover an allergy to Quorn which is something of a disaster for any self respecting student, never mind a vegi one. 

My biggest test as a vegetarian came when I went to my parents for the Christmas holidays. In our family Christmas is the biggest production of the year (I am hosting the annual feast for my parents, Mr M'  parents and my baby sister this year so be prepared for plenty of festive blogs as the year progresses) and  the main includes no fewer than 5 different types of meat and as a general rule more side dishes than people sitting round the table! It was the latter point that saved me during my flirtation with vegetarianism as I was more than happy to eat the vegetables and potatoes. My main problem came with the second course (or was it the third?) -  pork liver Pâté. I was determined not to give in to temptation and to prove that I could come up with a tasty meat free alternative, so to my mothers horror I made myself a Lentil and Carrot Pâté as an alternative. Unfortunately I don't think this vegetarian delight survived my mothers scrutiny to make it onto the Christmas dinner table, although my memories were of a rather tasty if unlike any Pâté I had ever had before. More recently attempts to loose weight led to me investigating vegetarian Pâté once more (I had a particularly bad experience with a well known Supermarkets low fat Brussels Pâté) and I developed this slightly more grown up and more tasty version of the Lentil and Carrot Pâté of my youth. 

Lentil and Carrot Pâté

 (Serves 4-6 as a snack or light lunch) 

200g red split lentils

1 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp ground coriander

200 g carrots, grated

1 tbsp olive oil

1 medium onion finely chopped

2 lg garlic cloves, crushed

50g Light olive oil spread

2 tsp cumin seeds

1 tsp coriander seeds

Salt and pepper

• Boil the lentils with the ground cumin and coriander for 10 minutes, add the carrots and boil for a further 10 minutes, until the lentils and carrots are soft. 
• Meanwhile heat the olive oil in a large frying pan and cook the onion and garlic gently until soft but not coloured. 
• When cooked drain the lentils well and transfer to a large bowl, add the cooked onion and garlic, light Olive oil spread and mix well.
• Fry the cumin and coriander seeds in a dry pan until fragrant and add to the lentil mixture. 
• Season the lentil mixture to taste and chill for at least two hours. 

This is delicious with toasted bread and salad as a light lunch.