The Ultimate Protein Bake Recipe

The Ultimate Protein Bake Recipe

This Ultimate Protein Bake Recipe is rich in protein and flavor, offering additional advantages. Essential ingredients such as lentils, brown rice, and spinach provide numerous health benefits. This traybake is perfect for dinner or to bring to work, and it stores well in the fridge.

Spinach and other dark leafy greens are rich in iron, making them an excellent choice if you're worried about your iron intake. This is just one of the many benefits of spinach, which also boasts high levels of antioxidants, fiber, minerals, and various vitamins. For instance, the vitamin K in spinach supports bone health, its high beta-carotene content aids eye health, and vitamin A is beneficial for skin and hair health, to name a few. Read more about benefits here.

Remember to purchase organic spinach, as it is part of the dirty dozen. However, opting for frozen spinach is also a good choice. Additionally, after thawing the frozen spinach, make sure not to throw away the water, since it contains dissolved nutrients.

Another pulse I really like is lentils. Despite being frequently overlooked, lentils are a cost-effective source of numerous nutrients. They are rich in B vitamins, magnesium, zinc, and potassium. With more than 25% of their content being protein, lentils are an outstanding protein source. (Source)

To enhance the protein content, the topping mixture incorporates Silken tofu as a binding agent. The middle layer consists of azuki beans, while the base layer features wholegrain or a.k.a. brown rice.

Well, all these ingredients will provide you with beneficial nutrients, fiber, protein, iron, so contributing to your overall health, as well as being very tasty and convenient.

So let's get started!

The Ultimate Protein Bake Recipe

Sometimes I think I must be part French as I always put a lot of garlic in everything, lol

Ingredients, serve 6

This traybake has 3 layers, the bottom is the rice layer, in the middle the adzuki bean mixture, and on the top the spinach and lentil mixture.

Bottom layer

2 tsp olive oil

1 tsp onion powder (emit if there's none)

1 cup of wholegrain rice, rinsed

1 tbsp oat flour

Middle layer

1 tsp garlic paste

1 tbsp olive oil

1 can of adzuki bean

2 tbsp bell pepper or madras curry puree

1 tsp chipotle

Top layer

1 cup of green lentils, soaked overnight

1 tbsp garlic puree

500 g organic frozen spinach

1 tbsp Garlic paste (or 2-3 cloves of garlic)

2 tbsp American mustard

1 tbsp sherry vinegar or Apple Cider Vinegar

250 g block Silken tofu

100 g vegan sour cream

Serve with gherkins.

Instructions

Soak lentils overnight, or around 1 hour in warm water.

To cook the rice, heat 2 teaspoons of olive oil with 1 teaspoon of garlic paste in a small pan. Add the rice and stir until it's evenly coated with the oil. Pour in 2 cups of boiling water and add salt. Cover and cook on medium-low heat for about 30 minutes, or until all the water has been absorbed.

Drain the adzuki beans and place them in a small blender with the other ingredients for the middle layer. Blend until the mixture is smooth and well combined.

Drain and rinse the soaked lentils using a sieve. Add salt and enough boiling water to loosely cover the lentils, then cook covered for 15 minutes on medium heat until they are just slightly al dente. Stir in the mustard and frozen spinach and cook uncovered for an additional 5 minutes. Remove from heat and mix in the vinegar.

In the meantime, whisk together the silken tofu, sour cream and garlic. Pour this mixture into spinach and lentil. Mix well.

Mix rice with oat flour. Spread this at the bottom of baking tray

Spread adzuki bean, middle layer mixture on top of rice layer.

Ladel carefully the spinach lentil on the top. Spread out evenly.

Bake covered for 30 mins at 180 degrees. Remove cover and bake uncovered for another 30 mins. Let it stand for an hour and serve with gherkins and extra vegan sour cream! Enjoy!

The Ultimate Protein Bake Recipe