057 / 75 · Vegetables, fish and hearty plates

Mushroom and Walnut Lentil Lettuce Cups

8 filled lettuce cups; 4 cups, half the sauce and 50 g (1.8 oz) bread per person · Active 22 min · Cook 10 min · Total 40 min

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Finely chopped mushrooms and canned lentils make a warm filling with enough texture to spoon into lettuce leaves. Walnuts stay dry until the end and a measured lemon-mustard yogurt sauce finishes the cups. Soft bread is included alongside, giving two light lunches rather than a few unspecified party bites.

Jump to ingredients

Lettuce cups with mushroom-lentil filling, walnuts and yogurt sauce.

Chop the mushrooms small

Use cultivated button or cremini mushrooms, chopped into small pieces rather than large slices. They should become soft and release their juices before the lentils join them. Those juices help the tomato paste coat the filling without adding an unmeasured sauce. There is no frying or browning stage.

Build the cups at the table

Choose broad flexible lettuce leaves, wash them and drain them well. A thick rigid rib can be trimmed before weighing. Warm filling softens a leaf quickly, so assemble close to eating or let each person spoon the prepared filling and sauce into their four leaves. Divide the complete batch, not just a decorative spoonful of it.

Ingredients

  • 200 g (7.1 oz) cultivated white button or cremini mushrooms (Agaricus bisporus), cleaned and chopped into 5 mm (3/16 in) pieces; no wild or specialty substitutes in this timed method
  • 60 g (2.1 oz) onion, peeled and finely diced
  • 200 g (7.1 oz) ready-to-eat canned green or brown lentils, drained and rinsed
  • 30 g (1.1 oz) ready-to-eat walnuts, finely chopped
  • 15 g (0.53 oz) tomato paste
  • 15 ml (1 US tbsp) reduced-salt soy sauce
  • 5 ml (1 US tsp) olive oil
  • 30 ml (2 US tbsp) water
  • 1 g sweet paprika, about ½ US tsp
  • 8 broad flexible lettuce leaves, about 80 g (2.8 oz) after washing, draining and trimming hard ribs
  • 100 g (3.5 oz) plain yogurt
  • 15 ml (1 US tbsp) lemon juice
  • 10 g (0.35 oz) Dijon mustard
  • 100 g (3.5 oz) soft wholemeal bread, divided 50 g (1.8 oz) per person

Set out

1000 W microwave with turntable, Microwave-safe bowl, 1.5 L (1.6 US qt) capacity, with vented cover, Knife and board, Colander for washed lettuce, Small sauce bowl, Fork and spoon, Kitchen scale and measuring jug, Food thermometer, Oven mitts, Two serving plates

Allergens

Walnuts, Soy, Wheat, Milk, Mustard. Check labels and substitutions.

Make it

  1. Combine chopped mushrooms, onion, olive oil and the 30 ml water in the 1.5 L bowl. Cover with the vented cover. Microwave at 1000 W full power for 3 minutes, stir from the bottom, then cook 2–3 minutes more until onion and mushrooms are fully soft. Keep their juices.
  2. Fold in lentils, tomato paste, soy sauce and paprika. Cover and microwave at full power for 2 minutes, stir gently, then heat 1–2 minutes more until 165°F/74°C in the center and several other positions. Stand covered for 2 minutes, then fold in all the chopped walnuts.
  3. While the filling cooks or stands, mix all the yogurt, lemon juice and mustard in the small bowl. Lay out four prepared lettuce leaves and 50 g bread per person. Keep the leaves and sauce separate from the hot filling until ready to assemble.
  4. Divide the entire filling equally between the eight leaves, or provide half the filling for each person to spoon into their four leaves. Divide all the sauce across both portions, adding it just before eating. Serve with the measured bread and eat promptly.

Eight usable leaves

Use eight broad leaves of roughly the stated prepared weight, rather than eight tiny center leaves. Each must hold about one-eighth of the full filling without needing a deep packed mound.

The sauce belongs to the meal

Each person receives half the 100 g yogurt, 15 ml lemon and 10 g mustard sauce as well as half the warm filling and walnuts. It is not an unmeasured garnish.

Ingredient labels

Ordinary soy sauce commonly contains wheat. Bread may also contain sesame or additional allergens; check all labels.

A useful detail

The 40-minute planning total allows washing lettuce and fine chopping, up to 6 minutes mushroom-onion heating, 4 minutes lentil heating, the 2-minute stand, sauce mixing and assembly. Sauce preparation overlaps heating. The walnuts are ready to eat and added after the hot stage; they are not toasted in a hidden pan.

Another way

  • Replace walnuts with 30 g (1.1 oz) ready-to-eat pumpkin seeds. Check labels for nut cross-contact; the yogurt and mustard remain in the sauce.
  • Use 200 g (7.1 oz) drained ready-to-eat canned chickpeas, coarsely crushed with a fork, instead of lentils. Keep the same full hot-filling endpoint.

Keep it well

Refrigerate filling and sauce separately in shallow covered containers within 2 hours, or 1 hour above 90°F/32°C, at 40°F/4°C or below; use within 2 days. Keep washed drained lettuce chilled and bread dry. Eat filling cold, or reheat a separate portion once with stirring to 165°F/74°C and stand covered for 2 minutes before building fresh cups. Assembled lettuce cups do not keep their crisp texture.