Indian Spiced Crumpets with Lentils

We love using sourdough discard for crumpets. I usually feed the sourdough starter (200g flour, 200ml filtered water) so I can make a batch of 8 crumpets. If you’re aiming for a vegan diet, these are so similar to pancakes when ladled onto a hot skillet and so much easier. if you don’t have sourdough discard lying around, any crumpet recipe will do. I tend to make French Puy lentils as they cook faster than say a brown or green lentil, but any whole will do.

For the lentils:

1 cup whole lentils (Puy, red, green, brown)

1/2 teaspoon Maldon sea salt

Method

In a medium saucepan cover the lentils with 2 inches of water, add the salt and bring to a boil. Boil approximately 20-25 minutes or until the lentils are the tiniest bit ‘al dente’, soft and taste fully cooked. Drain and set aside.

Serving suggesting: top with chopped cilantro and chives

For the crumpets:

2 cups (454g) discarded sourdough starter

2 teaspoons coconut palm sugar

1 teaspoon baking soda

3/4 teaspoon sea salt

4 Padron peppers, thinly sliced (or green bell pepper)

Method

In a large mixing bowl mix all the ingredients together. The batter should be soft and similar to the consistency of whipped cream.

Let the batter rest, while you prepare the pan-fried onion mixture below. Feel free to stir in half of the fried onions into the crumpet batter or keep all for topping the crumpets.

To cook the crumpets you can use round metal crumpet molds or simply ladle batter like ‘pancakes’ and flip once golden brown after 2 minutes and repeat.

Serve topped lentils and onion mixture.

For the spiced onions:

1 red onion, slivered

2 Padron peppers, thinly sliced

1 teaspoon black mustard seeds

1/2 teaspoon cumin

1/8 teaspoon each: cayenne, turmeric, garam masala

Maldon sea salt to taste

1 teaspoon oil

Just before serving stir in:handful chopped cilantro and chives

Method

In a large cast iron frying pan or non-stick skillet, heat the oil over medium heat.

Add onion, Padron peppers and all the spices. Stir frequently to coat the onions in the spices.

Pan-fry until slightly cooked, but still crunchy, approximately 2 minutes. S

et aside to top the crumpets when done.

To assemble:

Top each crumpet with a layer of lentils, crispy onions and cilantro and chives. Enjoy