Stuffed round zucchini

Ingredients for 2 servings:

• 1 large zucchini, round
• herbal salt
• Olive oil for frying
• 1 onion(s)
• 2 garlic cloves
• 1 tbsp tomato paste
• 200 ml water or broth
• 100 g couscous
• 1 can of mountain lentils
• 1 tsp heaped Ras el Hanout
• Paprika powder
• salt and pepper
• 2 tbsp nutritional yeast, for sprinkling

Instructions

Working time approx. 15 minutes; Cooking/baking time approx. 45 minutes; Total time approx. 1 hour

vegan

Preheat the oven to 180°C (top/bottom heat). Halve the zucchini, remove the seeds, and season the zucchini halves with herb salt. Chop the onion and garlic and sauté in olive oil. Add the tomato paste and fry briefly (this adds an umami flavor), then deglaze with water or stock. Add the couscous and bring to a boil, followed by the mountain lentils. Season everything with ras el hanout, paprika, salt, and pepper, and simmer gently until the couscous is tender. Fill the zucchini halves with the mixture, place in a baking dish, drizzle with olive oil if desired, and bake in the oven for about 45 minutes until tender. Just before the end of the cooking time, sprinkle the zucchini with the nutritional yeast. Note: The zucchini glut overwhelmed me and so my round zucchini turned out to be very large, but you can also use two smaller ones and then shorten the cooking time accordingly.