Ingredients (serves 4)

• 450 g Japanese pumpkin peeled, cut into 1cm pieces
• 4 medium red capsicum, halved, deseeded
• 2 tsp olive oil
• 4 individual green shallots, trimmed, thinly sliced
• 1 celery stick, chopped
• 2 cloves fresh garlic
• ½ tsp ground cumin
• 1 cup dry red lentils, rinsed, drained
• 1 ¼ cup (310ml) vegetable stock
• ¼ cup (35g) currants
• ½ cup fresh flat-leaf parsley, coarsely chopped
• ¼ cup (40g) pine nuts

Method

1. Preheat oven to 220°C or 200°C fan-forced. Line a baking tray with baking paper. Place pumpkin on prepared tray and lightly spray with oil. Bake for 15 minutes. Add capsicum to tray with pumpkin and bake for a further 10 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, heat oil in a large frying pan over medium heat. Add shallots and celery and cook, stirring, for 3–4 minutes or until softened. Add garlic, cumin and lentils and stir to combine. Add juice, stock and currants and bring to the boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer, uncovered, for 10–15 minutes or until lentils are tender.
3. Add roasted pumpkin, parsley and pine nuts to lentil mixture and stir to combine. Spoon lentil mixture into capsicums, pushing into the edges and piling up if necessary. Roast for 12–15 minutes or until capsicum is tender. Serve.

Notes

You can use 1 tsp of ground cardamom instead of cumin if you prefer. Unlike other dried legumes, red lentils do not need to be pre-soaked before cooking but they should be rinsed well to remove any processing ‘dust’.