Lebanese Spinach Lentil Salad

Down the street from my parents' house in Metro Detroit there is this tiny Lebanese restaurant that makes really good Middle Eastern fare for cheap. They had been going there for a while to get the regular carry out bag of hummus, stuffed grape leaves and falafels, when one day they decided to be a bit more adventurous and came home with "Lebanese Spinach Salad". Inside the Styrofoam containers were the most amazing salads ever. A mixture of green lentils and onions set on a bed of fresh baby spinach, topped off with a tahini based dressing. Simple, but so unbelievably good! My family began going there at least a couple times a week to get these delicious, cheap, healthy salads. But being the crafty, frugal girl that I am, I vowed to try and make this simple dish in my own kitchen.

My first step in the quest was of course to type "Lebanese Spinach Lentil Salad" into google. But surprisingly, nothing that looked remotely like the right recipe came up. I had started out thinking this was a traditional Lebanese dish, whereas it looks now like this little restaurant employs a genius, creative chef! Which was worth applauding, but did not help me the least bit in my search.

I knew then that I would have to wing it. I was pretty well able to guess what the major ingredients of the salad were--the spinach, lentils, onions were very simply prepared. But that delicious, strange dressing... that took a couple more days of Interwebs research.

I finally realized that the dressing tasted suspiciously like the sauce you get on falafels and shawarmas. I came across a recipe for a "Tahini Marinade", tweaked it a bit, and took the plunge. And while it didn't taste exactly the same, it sure was close. And delicious.

Another plus was that the recipe called for sumac, a middle eastern spice I had seen in recipes but never bought or used in cooking before. The berries on the variety of Sumac shrub that grows in Africa and the Middle East are ground up into a tangy, purple-red spice that adds another level of sourness. I don't think it's the same plant we get here in North America, so I would not suggest harvesting your own sumac!* I found mine at a Middle Eastern grocery. It's not totally necessary to producing a good salad, but I'm always excited to use new ingredients.

Lebanese Spinach Lentil Salad
Serves 4

Salad
1 cup of dried green lentils
1 white onion
2 cloves of garlic
8 cups of fresh baby spinach
1 Tbs olive oil

Dressing
1/2 cup tahini (sesame seed paste)
3 gloves garlic, minced
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp of sumac
2 tbs olive oil
1/4 cup lemon juice
just enough water to thin a bit (I've never measured this part, just done it by feel)

1. Put your lentils into a strainer and clean thoroughly, picking out any bits of foreign objects. Place into a medium sized pot, and cover with water. Cook on high until boiling, then lower to medium heat. Let cook for 45 minutes to an hour. You may need to drain excess water.

2. When the lentils are cooked, cut the onion into thin slices and sautee in the olive oil. Chop the garlic, and add the to the pan as well. When the onion and garlic are translucent and cooked through but not brown, take off the heat, and stir into the lentils.

3. In a bowl, combine the tahini, minced garlic, olive oil and lemon juice. Add just enough water to thin out the mixture a a bit; you still want it to be fairly thick, but more of a dressing instead of a marinade. Add the salt and sumac, and mix well.

4. Place two cups of fresh spinach onto each plate, and top with the lentil and onion mixture. Drizzle a few spoonfuls of the tahini dressing over the salad and serve.

*EDIT: I was told recently that the very commonly found sumac bush with red berries in North America is one and the same as those found in the Middle East. It's the white ones you want to avoid! Still, do a bit of research before you go off berry picking in your own yard.