Lentil

Keep healthy and satisfied with this wholemeal spaghetti with green lentils, mushrooms and parsley butter.

Various combinations of rice and lentils are eaten throughout the Middle East and India, with perhaps the two most well-known versions being Lebanese mujadara and Indian kitcheree. Our Egyptian take on this homely dish, however, adds delicious "oomph" to the rice-lentil theme with its fragrantly spicy caramelised onion and piquant chilli sauce.

Adding salt during cooking was once thought to make pulses tough it doesn't. However it does slow down the cooking time, so it's best to season this Greek lentil, spinach and dill soup at the very end.