As promised – my homemade lentil nachos recipe. I apologise upfront for the fact that the ones pictured here are a little on the dark side – I was on the phone and forgot about them so they were in the oven for about 15 minutes longer than they should have been! They were though still edible – just very crispy. The usual texture is ever so slightly chewy and in a good way.

We like ours spicy so I add chili to the mix but you can do them just as well without. You can also make the pancakes slightly larger and use as a wrap in place of tortilla wraps for fajitas or sandwiches. They are really tasty and flexible without crumbling. They don’t last ever such a long time once cooked though – probably only three days in the fridge. The chips last somewhat longer though except in my house……

This makes enough nachos for four – you can adjust the amounts very easily up or down though, it’s a simple ratio of one part lentils to two parts cold water and seasoning to your own taste.

Ingredients

1 cup dried red lentils

2 cups cold water

1 teaspoon lazy chillis

Couple of sprays cooking oil

Fajita seasoning or seasoning of your choice

Method

Soak the lentils in the cold water for around 4 hours

Add the chilli and blitz with a stick blender to a smooth paste (don’t drain)

Heat a cast iron skillet over a medium flame and spray with a tiny bit of cooking oil (I use cans of Canola spray)

Using a large table spoon, ladle a spoonful of the mixture onto the skillet and using the back of the spoon spread to form a pancake

Cook this for a minute or two until you see that the edges are beginning to brown slightly and then flip using a metal spatula

Once cooked on both sides put to one side to cool and dry and continue with more pancakes until you’ve used up all the mixture

Heat the oven to 180C and line a couple of baking sheets with parchment or foil

Using scissors, cut the pancakes into nachos and lay out on the baking sheets

Spray very lightly with the cooking oil, turn and spray the other side

Bake until just crisp, which should be around 20 minutes

Remove to cool and immediately sprinkle with seasoning