Ingredients:

• 1 ½ cups red lentils
• 3 cups boiling water
• 2 vegetable stock cubes
• 2 bay leaves
• ½ cup cashew nuts
• ½ cup walnuts
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 4 spring onions chopped
• 1 ½ cups diced mushrooms
• 1 clove crushed garlic
• 1 tbsp dried rosemary
• 1 tbsp dried thyme
• 1 tbsp dried sage
• ¼ cup sunflower seeds
• 1 slice stale rye bread, crumbed
• chia seeds made into a gel (2 eggs, lightly beaten if not vegan)

Rinse the lentils thoroughly in a colander under running cold water. Put in a medium-sized saucepan with the boiling water, stock cubes and bay leaves. Bring to the boil and simmer over a low heat for 20 minutes, stirring to make sure it doesn’t catch on the bottom of the pot. Make sure you remove the bay leaves at the end of cooking.

Meanwhile, in a heavy frying pan, dry-roast the nuts over a medium heat for five minutes. Then chop the nuts and put in a large mixing bowl.

Take the same pan, add the olive oil and sauté the chopped spring onions over a medium heat for three to five minutes.

Add the chopped mushrooms, crushed garlic and dried herbs and stir for a further three to five minutes, or until the mushrooms are soft.

Add the mixture from the frying pan to the mixing bowl along with the sunflower seeds, breadcrumbs, beaten eggs and lentil mix.

Combine all of the ingredients well with a wooden spoon, then spoon the mixture into a greased loaf pan which is lined with greaseproof paper.

Bake in a moderate oven (180C/356F) for 35-45 minutes, or until golden brown on top and a metal skewer comes out clean when inserted into the middle.

Allow to cool for 10 minutes in the pan before running a knife around the edges and turning the loaf out on to a serving platter. Slice with care using a serrated bread knife. Serve warm.