Red Lentils to the Rescue
March 30th, 2009 Posted in Dishes
I love writing this blog, but occasionally I run into technical problems that take days to unravel. It’s amazing how many hours, and then days, can go by just trying to figure out what is wrong. I do apologize for the little hiatus in posts. To console my tech woes, I made some really good lentil soup.
Lentils are supercomfort for me. When I was a superbroke student, my go-to meal was lentils cooked together with brown rice, then refried with butter, ground cumin, and ground coriander. This concoction was then stuffed into oversize tortillas and wolfed down in terrifyingly large quantities.
Lentils are still one of the cheapest, most satisfying ingredients available, and I still cook a lot of them. I’ve become especially fond of the red ones (they’re also called pink lentils and orange lentils; their color is more orange than pink or red). They make an unbelievable crust: you just grind them in a spice grinder till you get a fine powder, sprinkle over anything you’d like to get really crunchy, spray with olive oil, and bake or fry. Works great for baked tofu, meatloaf, fish, stuffed squash, chicken. . . .
Another favorite use of lentils is for soup. Dice a large onion and a few carrots and saute them in a soup pan with oil from garlic confit (or olive oil, or butter, or a combo of the two), add large pinches of freshly ground cumin, black pepper, maybe some ground-up chiles, and salt. When the onions get soft, add about two cups of red lentils and saute a little more. Then add a quart or so of chicken stock or vegetable stock, bring to a boil rapidly, and then simmer for roughly 45 minutes. Blend thoroughly in the Vita Prep, and get ready for comfort injection.
I like to garnish the bowls of soup with a good glop of Greek yogurt, some orange zest, and herb of choice. I used nasturtium leaves today, but you could use whatever — chives, oregano, thyme, rosemary, mint, tarragon, or a combo. Be sure it’s adequately salted, slice up some bread, and have a seat.
If anyone has any breakaway ideas for lentils, speak up!
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6 Responses to “Red Lentils to the Rescue”
By
jan in nagasaki on Apr 6, 2009
i make lentil burgers and eat them on a toasted bun…
cooked lentils
chopped onion
bread crumbs
egg
shot of catsup or tom sauce
salt and pepper.
form into desired shape (I press them and form them kind of like making onigiri) and fry up in a pan….
i made up some brown rice and lentils as you suggested… yum!!!!
lentils are great, and so cheap in the states… kind-of expensive here,though.
By
Em on Apr 7, 2009
Beautiful soup!!
Since it’s going to be cooler this week, I should try this.
Eric, I’m leaving to Japan in about a week and I coming back at the end of this month, is there anything you want from there?
By
Eric on Apr 8, 2009
That’s so sweet of you, thank you Em! Do you happen to know those insanely delicious (and addictive) cinnamon crisps that are a specialty of Kyoto?? Everyone sells them along the tetsugaku no michi. I don’t know what they’re called in Japanese, maybe something like “yatsuhashi?” I’d KILL for some of those, but ONLY if it’s easy to get!
By
Em on Apr 9, 2009
Of course!
I’ve never had the crisp ones though.
The one that I’ve had in the past was soft and kind of like sweet mochi with very strong cinnamon flavor.
So, is it this?
http://www.yatsuhashi.co.jp/introduction/index.html
It looks like it should be easy to bring over to the states too.
By
Eric on Apr 9, 2009
Yes, that’s it! Thank you Em, that’s incredibly sweet of you. I don’t know why but I really adore those things, and haven’t had them in years. While you’re at it, find out how to make them!!
By
Carol Peterman on Apr 16, 2009
I love the idea of grinding lentils to use as a crust; I will give that a try.
I like to make a red lentil stew with the African spice mix berbere. A little sautéed onion and garlic, tomato paste, salt, and stock and you have a great stew in about 45 minutes.
Lentils give all the satisfaction of slow cooked beans, but in a fraction of the time. I love them!