Meera Sodha’s vegan recipe for lentils with chestnuts, red wine and cavolo nero
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Chestnuts lend their crumbly, creamy and crunchy magic to a lentil and cabbage ‘risotto’

Meera Sodha

Sat 1 Mar 2025 03.00 EST

I If chestnuts could speak, they would ask for equal rights with other nuts, and not just to be eaten at Christmas. Once upon a time, eating chestnuts in season, from October to December, made sense, because, unlike other nuts, they have a short shelf life. But, thanks to fancy new packaging, we can now enjoy these crumbly, creamy nuts all year round. Being robust and buttery, rich and sweet, they’re an excellent addition to vegan dishes, such as in these lentils. Here, I’ve braised some chestnuts with lentils in wine until deeply delicious, then hard-fried some others until they’re like crumbly sweet breadcrumbs.

Lentils with chestnuts, red wine and cavolo nero
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These lentils are quite rich, so I like to eat them by themselves, but you might like some good bread, toasted and drizzled with olive oil, alongside. If you’re using dried lentils, rinse them first under cold water, then put in a pan and cover with 300ml cold water. Bring to a boil, simmer for 20 minutes, or until tender, then drain and rinse under cold water.

Prep **10 min**  
Cook **40 min**  
Serves **4**

**250g ready-cooked chestnuts  
7½ tbsp extra-virgin olive oil  
1 large onion**, peeled and finely diced  
**2 leeks** (220g), greens and whites finely sliced and washed well  
**2 celery stalks** (100g), trimmed and finely diced  
**2 garlic cloves**, peeled and minced  
**300ml red wine  
Fine sea salt and black pepper  
250g** **cooked puy lentils** (or 100g dried lentils – see recipe introduction)  
**200g cavolo nero**, leaves stripped and cut into 2cm strips

First, prepare the chestnuts. Cut half of them into small chunks and finely chop the other half into breadcrumb-sized pieces. Put both in separate small bowls and set to one side.

Heat six tablespoons of the oil in a wide saute pan for which you have a lid, then add the onion, leeks and celery, and cook, stirring regularly, for 10 minutes. Add the minced garlic, cook for two minutes until the raw smell disappears, then pour in the wine and a teaspoon and a half of salt, and leave to cook for five minutes, until the liquid evaporates.

Stir in the cooked lentils, cavolo nero and chunky-cut chestnuts, pop on the lid, and cook for 12 or so minutes, until the cabbage is tender.

In a separate frying pan, heat the remaining tablespoon and a half of oil over the highest heat, then tip in the chestnut crumbs and fry hard, stirring regularly, for two to three minutes. Stir in a couple of big pinches each of salt and ground black pepper.

Transfer the lentil mix to a platter, scatter the chestnut crumbs all over the top and serve.

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