The protein cooking time listed in this recipe has been updated.
As of December 2025, we’ve revised cooking times for all our proteins to reflect improved food safety guidance.
Check out the latest recommended times in our Cooking Guidelines.
Ezme Lentil Ragu with Creamy Rice Bake
Here's a healthy and filling meal to warm up cold bellies. Stew hearty lentils with earthy mushrooms, onion, spinach and flavour-packed ezme paste. Top with creamy rice and a sprinkle of pumpkin seeds for crunch. Bake until golden and bubbling. And that's dinner, sorted.
Prep in 10
1/3 daily fibre
5 plants
Low sat fat
Serving size
Ingredients
- 1 vegetable stock cube (Celery) (Sea salt, potato starch*, sustainable palm oil*, sugar*, vegetables*(6,8%) [celery*, onion*, carrot*, parsnip*, tomato*], sunflower oil*, yeast extract, caramelised sugar*, herbs* & spices* ( lovage*, turmeric*, parsley*, black pepper*) *Organic ingredients)
- 1 onion
- 160g baby spinach
- 200ml almond cream (Nuts) (Water, almond, sunflower oil, stabilisers (arabic gum, xanthan gum), sea salt)
- 160g red split lentils (red split lentils (100%))
- 500g steamed brown basmati rice (Natural Brown Basmati Rice – Steamed (98%), Rice Bran Oil, Acacia Fibre.)
- 2 tbsp nutritional yeast (Dried Inactive Yeast, Niacin, Pantothenic Acid, Thiamine, Vitamin B6, Riboflavin, Folic Acid, Biotin, Vitamin B12.)
- 30g pumpkin seeds
- 120g chestnut mushrooms
- 1 garlic bulb (use half)
- 20g cashew parm cheez (Nuts) (Cashew nuts, Sunflower seeds, Nutritional yeast, Kale, Himalayan pink salt , Lemon peel)
- 3 tbsp Belazu ezme paste (Sunflower oil, Grilled Peppers, Rehidrated Sun-dried tomato (Contains salt), Pomegranate Molasses, Tomato paste, Lemon juice, Salt, Garlic puree, Green chilli peppers (contains salt and traces of preservatives: acetic acid, sodium metabisulphite) sulphites max 100ppm, Grape vinegar (Sulphites max 30ppm), Dried onions, Sumac, Red Pepper Flakes, Dried Parsley, Dried Mint, Black pepper)
Nutritional Information
Calories: 513
Protein: 21g
Carbs: 58g
Fat: 21g
Ezme Lentil Ragu with Creamy Rice Bake
Here's a healthy and filling meal to warm up cold bellies. Stew hearty lentils with earthy mushrooms, onion, spinach and flavour-packed ezme paste. Top with creamy rice and a sprinkle of pumpkin seeds for crunch. Bake until golden and bubbling. And that's dinner, sorted.
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Cooking Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 240C / fan 220C / gas mark 9. Bring a large saucepan filled with salted hot water to a boil. Add the lentils and boil for 8-10 mins, until very soft, then drain.
- Make the lentil ragu. Roughly dice the onion. Finely chop or crush 4 garlic cloves. Quarter the mushrooms. Heat a medium saucepan with 1 tbsp oil on medium-high heat. Add the onion and garlic and cook for 4-5 mins, until softened.
- Add the mushrooms and cook for 2-3 mins. Add the ezme paste and 200ml hot water. Crumble in the stock cube and stir. Bring to a boil then simmer for 5 mins. Stir in the spinach and cooked lentils, then season with sea salt and black pepper.
- Make the creamy rice mixture. In a bowl, combine the rice with the cream, half the nutritional yeast and half the cheez. Season with sea salt and black pepper and mix well.
- Transfer the lentil ragu to a baking dish and top with the creamy rice mixture. Scatter over the pumpkin seeds and the remaining cheez. Bake for 10 mins, until golden brown and bubbling.
- Sprinkle over the remaining nutritional yeast and serve.
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