Summer lentil salad
And the things I'm currently wondering about
In the last few weeks and months I have been wondering a lot. For me, our “new normal” doesn’t feel normal at all and I don’t even want to get used to it. For example, I am amazed that for months we have only heard one expert opinion on Corona in the media and not many different ones, which can sometimes contradict each other in order to help establish the truth. I am amazed that it is no longer okay to disagree. I am amazed that all the information that does not come from the government is “fake news”. I also wonder why everyone should be a “conspiracy theorist” who thinks differently. I am amazed that people with a different attitude have been publicly stigmatized for weeks and that it seems to be the accepted new tone. It is well known that fear makes you sick. That is why I am amazed that it is used so generously to protect our health. I am amazed that in a publicly available paper of the German federal government with the title “How we get COVID-19 under control” (you can google it) on page 13 it says that “the primordial fear of suffocation” should be awakened in people to get them to follow the Corona measures. I am also amazed that it says that you have to teach children what it feels like “when they infect their parents and how they might be responsible for someone dying in agony because they forgo to wash their hands after playing outside”. I am amazed that Youtube and Facebook are removing more and more posts and videos that have a different opinion about the virus. Yes, I just wonder. Because: it can’t be our new normal, that we are no longer allowed to have our own opinion.
Over the last few days I have read a really good book that I can only recommend to anyone who longs for a factually well-founded second opinion during this time: “Corona – false alarm?” by the specialist in microbiology and infection epidemiology Dr. Sucharit Bhakdi and the professor Karina Reiss. This book has helped me to find and strengthen my own attitude in these really difficult times. And that’s exactly what I want for our new normal: that we get a holistic picture of the situation, every day. That we don’t believe and accept everything that is told to us. That we know that there is not just one right was to see things. And that we ask ourselves if it is worse that there are conspiracy theorists or that people are publicly bullied for their attitudes. I would like to see more differentiation again. I wish that the well-being of the people does not only come first on the outside. And that fear will not become the new favorite tool of politics. I just want us to go through life like sisters and brothers again. Arguable, courageous, funny, complex, loving, curious, open and generous. And not narrow-minded, fear-controlled, denouncing and small-minded. Hey this is just a virus! Yes, it’s real and it’s contagious. But is that reason enough to forego what makes life worth living? I don’t think so.
What do you think? And what is your attitude towards what is happening right now? I’m looking forward to your comment below!
The recipe of the week
This week I had an incredible craving for lenses. But preferably in a summer combination. So I partnered them up with watemelon, which is probably a bold choice – but if I am arguing for more openness in the mind, then a little more openness on the plate can’t do any harm, right? Watermelon gives the lentils a freshness kick and is supported by juicy cucumber, invigorating mint and summery lime. This is how summer tastes to me. To you too?
SUMMER LENTIL SALAD
Ingredients
For the salad:
- 200 g beluga lentils
- 400 ml water
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 small red onion peeled and chopped
- 1/2 cucumber
- 150 g watermelon diced
- 2 tbsp chopped mint to taste
For the dressing:
- 3 tbsp lime juice
- 1 tsp Dijon mustard
- 1 tsp maple syrup alternatively: honey
- 3/4 tsp salt
- 3 tbsp olive oil
Instructions
- Put the beluga lentils in a sieve and wash. Then bring to boil with the water in a saucepan. Reduce the heat and let the lid simmer for about 30 minutes until the lentils are firm to the bite. Only at the end of the cooking time add the salt. Drain into a sieve and pour into a bowl.
- Heat olive oil in a pan and fry the chopped red onion in it. Add to the lentils.
- Wash the cucumber and cut into strips with a peeler together with the skin. Add 2/3 of the strips to the lentils, set aside the rest. Add 2/3 of the chopped watermelon to the lentils. Add the mint.
- Mix all the ingredients for the dressing and mix in the lentil salad. Arrange the salad on plates and serve with the remaining cucumber strips and watermelon pieces.
Wellcuisine-Tipp
