Place the lentils in a small saucepan and cover with water. Bring to a boil and then simmer until lentils are tender, about 15-20 minutes. Drain and set aside.
In a large bowl, combine the peanut butter, olive oil, chili crisp, water, lime juice, maple syrup, Tamari, garlic, salt and pepper. Whisk to combine. Add the drained lentils and toss to combine. Add more salt and pepper if you like. Set aside.
Cut the broccoli into “steaks.” Start by cutting off any excessive stem so that you just have the crown essentially. Set the crown on the cutting board with the stem side facing up towards you. Then, cut the broccoli crown into 1/2-inch thick “steaks” as best you can. See the recipe notes on dealing with the smaller bits.
Preheat the grill to medium.
Set the broccoli steaks on a baking sheet and drizzle with the olive oil on both sides. Season both sides with salt and pepper.
Place the broccoli “steaks” on the grill and cook until browned on one side, about 5-6 minutes. Flip the broccoli over and cook for another 5-6 minutes. The finished broccoli should be browned on all sides and feel slightly tender when poked in the stem area.
Remove broccoli from the grill. Spoon ⅔ of the spicy peanut lentils on a serving platter and arrange the broccoli on top. Spoon remaining peanut lentils on top. Garnish with chopped peanuts, green onions, and extra chili crisp. Enjoy!
Equipment
Grill
Recipe Notes
Lao Gan Ma is the baseline chili crisp that I use in recipes. Lots of other brands out there that I love of course, but I generally always come back to this one. The flavor and spice level is reliable!
A bunch of broccoli here usually has 2 stems. When I was shopping to photograph this, the broccoli stems/crowns on offer were quite small (go figure). If yours are bigger, you might be able to get away with just 1 bunch of broccoli!
When cutting broccoli steaks, aim for slices about 1 inch thick. The crown will naturally give you 2-3 steaks depending on the size of the head.
For the fallen florets: If you have a grill basket/mesh bag, you could just pop them in there and cook alongside! You can also place them in a sealed bag for another snack or meal that week.
Broccoli crowns cut into thick steaks, grilled until charred and caramelized, then piled with a garlicky spicy peanut and chili crisp lentil sauce. Crunchy peanuts and green onions finish it off. A satisfying vegan main course ready in about 45 minutes