Tips for Cooking with Lentils

An inexpensive and nutritious food, lentils are high in dietary fiber, iron, protein, folate, magnesium and potassium. Lentils are cholesterol free, low in calories, and low in fat. An ideal source of protein for vegetarians and vegans, lentils can provide a healthy nutritious meal on a budget. Lentils come in a variety of colors and flavors, black, orange, brown, yellow and green, smaller lentils usually have a better flavor. Lentils are versatile and can be used in soups, stews and salads. They absorb flavors well so they can make a variety of dishes, from a hearty warming soup to a spicy curry or chili, just add your favorite seasoning, spices and herbs. Lentils are often cooked with ham, but also taste great with lamb, beef chicken and in vegetarian dishes.

Cooking With Lentils, Tips to Read Before You Begin

Before cooking, check the lentils to remove small stones, debris and shriveled beans, rinse and drain.

One cup of lentils needs 3 - 4 cups of water to boil, lentils taste best if added to boiling water.

Once the water starts to boil again, reduce the heat, cover and simmer.

Cooking under pressure? Add a tablespoon of oil to prevent the pressure cooker valve from being blocked by scum.

Cooking time depends on the variety of lentil, how long it has been stored and what your final use will be. Generally 20 to 30 minutes cooking time is needed, but some varieties could take up to one hour. Lentils in storage for extended periods of time can take longer to cook.

If you require a firmer texture for a salad or soup, check the lentils regularly after 15 minutes of cooking and remove them from the heat source as soon as they are cooked to the desired consistency.

What Can Go Wrong?

Lentils will swell and absorb water, so keep a close watch over them to ensure that they do not boil dry and burn or become too mushy.

Season the lentils after they are cooked, salt can make them tough if added at the beginning of cooking.

Tasteless? - Cooking the lentils with broth can enhance the flavor and make the dish much more palatable. You can also use bouillon cubes, or base to make your own broth, but always check the product for sodium content if this is a health issue.

Bitter? - Adding fresh lemon juice to cooked lentils can greatly reduce any bitterness in the taste

Onions, leeks and garlic are great flavor enhancers to lentil soups and stews. Gently sauté chopped onions in a little olive oil for 5 minutes, before adding the lentils, water or broth. Leeks and garlic can be added at this time or later in the cooking process, leeks are tender after about 7-8 minutes of cooking. Adding garlic at the end of cooking ensures that you get more of the health benefits that garlic can offer.

Shirley's Lentil Pea & Barley Soup

For My favorite recipe, I usually buy a one-pound bag each of lentils, barley, yellow split peas and green split peas. I mix these together and keep them in an airtight container for later use.

The ingredients are:

1 cup of the above mix
5 cups of water
1 chicken or vegetable bouillon cube or teaspoon of base
2 sticks of celery, chopped
1 small yellow onion, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, crushed or minced
2-3 tablespoons of olive oil
A fistful of washed spinach leaves
Juice from ½ lemon
a pinch of dried oregano
Salt & pepper to taste

Preparation

Sauté the onions, garlic and celery in the olive oil until they are transparent (approximately 5 minutes on a low heat). Add the cup of lentil/pea/barley mix, then and the water and bouillon or base.

Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for 30 minutes. Add spinach leaves and lemon juice, oregano, plus desired seasoning. Simmer for another 10 minutes, or until tender.

Puree soup in blender, or serve as is, according to preference.

Lentil recipe links:-

Vegetarian recipes - http://vegweb.com/index.php?board=178.0
Slow cooking - http://www.justslowcooking.com/inxlen.html
About.com - http://homecooking.about.com/library/archive/bllentils.htm
Epicurious - http://www.epicurious.com/tools/searchresults?search=lentils&x=0&y=0
East Indian recipes - http://search.atomz.com/search/?sp-q=lentils&submit=GO&sp-a=sp1002cd1d&sp-p=all&sp-f=ISO-8859-1