Protein Without Meat — and the Lentil Ragout That Converted My Neighbour

Name: Slow Lentil & Walnut Ragout
Total time: 55 min
Yield: 4
Ingredients: 250 g brown or Puy lentils; 60 g walnuts, chopped; 1 piece large onion, diced; 2 piece carrots, diced; 2 stalk celery, diced; 3 clove garlic, sliced; 2 tbsp tomato paste; 400 g tinned chopped tomatoes; 600 ml vegetable stock; 1 tbsp soy sauce; 2 sprig rosemary, chopped; 3 tbsp olive oil

How much protein you really need on a vegetarian diet, where to get it — and a slow lentil ragout with walnuts that tastes like a Sunday.

The question I am asked most often at the studio, usually somewhere between the third and fourth chaturanga: but where do you get your protein? From food, mostly. Here is the unglamorous arithmetic.

How much you actually need

Around 0.8–1.0 grams per kilo of body weight for a normally active adult, and roughly 1.2–1.6 grams if you train seriously and want to build muscle. For a 65 kg person that is between 52 and 105 grams a day — a range, not a target to hit to the decimal. Spread it across the day rather than dumping it all into dinner.

Where it comes from in a vegetarian kitchen

Lentils — about 9 g per 100 g cooked, plus fibre and iron.
Tofu and tempeh — 8–19 g per 100 g.
Skyr, quark, Greek yoghurt — 10–12 g per 100 g.
Eggs — about 6 g each.
Oats and wholegrain bread — quiet contributors that add up.
Nuts and seeds — pumpkin seeds and walnuts especially.

You need not combine proteins within one meal. Eat varied plants over the day and the amino acids sort themselves out.

My neighbour Karl-Heinz ate this ragout, went quiet, then asked whether he could take the rest home in a jar. He has eaten meat every day since 1961.
Anna

Slow Lentil & Walnut Ragout

Main course · Time: 55 minutes · Servings: 4 · Difficulty: Easy · Vegan

Ingredients

250 g brown or Puy lentils
60 g walnuts, chopped
1 piece large onion, diced
2 piece carrots, diced
2 stalk celery, diced
3 clove garlic, sliced
2 tbsp tomato paste
400 g tinned chopped tomatoes
600 ml vegetable stock
1 tbsp soy sauce
2 sprig rosemary, chopped
3 tbsp olive oil

Method

Toast the walnuts in a dry pan for 3–4 minutes until nutty. Set aside.
Cook onion, carrot and celery in the oil with a pinch of salt for a full 10 minutes over medium-low heat.
Add garlic and rosemary, then the tomato paste; let it darken for two minutes.
Add lentils, tomatoes, stock and soy sauce. Simmer 30–35 minutes until soft but still whole.
Stir in the walnuts, season with salt, pepper and a splash of vinegar. Serve on pasta, polenta or toast.

Tip

Better on day two. Freeze half in portions — a 25 g protein dinner for the evening you cannot face cooking.

Download recipe (.rezezam)