My first lentil recipe

/ MR

I went to a shop that sells bulk foods, a couple of weeks ago, and bought (inter plura alia) half a kilo of small sort of green lentils. Today I decided it was time to cook the little buggers – not the whole ½k ! – and found in my recipe files the following:

Borlotti & Lentil Casserole

Prep: 10’ – Cook: 1 hr 30’ – Servings: 6 portions

Ingredients

  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 red onion, finely chopped
  • 1 leek, finely sliced
  • 1 red capsicum,finely chopped
  • parsley – stalks chopped fine, leaves rough
  • 2 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
  • 1 long red chilli, finely chopped
  • 2 tsps ground cumin
  • ½ tsp chilli powder
  • 2 tsps smoked paprika
  • 2 tsps dried oregano
  • tin chopped tomatoes
  • tin borlotti beans, drained and rinsed
  • 200g puy lentils, rinsed
  • tsp Massel vegetable stock powder
  • 3 squares dark chocolate

Instructions

  • In a large casserole heat the oil and add the onion, leek, pepper, parsley stalks, garlic, chilli and spices. Fry gently for 4-5 minutes, adding a little water if the mixture gets too dry.
  • Add the tomatoes, then refill the empty tin with water, tip this into the pan, re-fill it again to half-way and add this too.
  • Tip in the borlottis, lentils, stock cube and chocolate, stir, then bring to the boil.
  • Turn down to low, cover and cook for 1½—2 hours until the lentils are tender and sauce has thickened. Remove the lid for a while if there’s too much liquid. Taste and season with salt and black pepper.
  • Stir through the parsley just before serving, and top with sour cream.

OK. That’s the recipe and here is my dinner a little while ago:

See the sort of hazy part inside the right-hand top quadrant ? – that’s steam.   🙂

Because I’m strange, I had it with couscous rather than rice; and I can tell you from my own somewhat gluttonous experience that it tastes very nice indeed !

HOWEVER ! See what I put in red text ? – the cooking time ? Well, I dunno what lentils are like where this recipe comes from (and I have zero memory of where I found it), but my small more-or-less-green lentils were perfectly cooked in half an hour ! So please keep in mind – should you, like me, like the sound of lentils and borlottis together – to keep tabs on your cooking time, yes ?

And if you do, you’ll derive as much enjoyment from this yummy and healthy vegetarian meal as I did. And will ..

16 thoughts on “My first lentil recipe”

  1. Guess what? I have a red lentils recipe that does NOT have tomatoes! Red lentils cook quickly. The little green puy lentils also cook quickly ie in the time yours took. But those bigger green or brown lentils do take a lot longer. It’s all in the type of lentil!

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      • Thanks M-R, I love that you worry about me, but my choices aren’t as narrow as you fear. Indeed to some degree they’ve broadened because I try a lot more new vegetables, and new flavour combinations, than I may have otherwise. There are so many different cuisines out there. The two most problematic cuisines for me are Italian and Mexican.

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  3. That’s what you get from an iPhone, I presoom ! [grin] Are you out walking Bobbi then ? – walking over a crosswalk and texting ? XXOXOXOXX

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  5. Vell, dullink .. I hope the boyfriend likes it too ! 🙂
    Btw; it’s incredibly simple, as you chuck virtually everything in at once !

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  7. Adding chocolate to this seems sacriligous. I used to make a lentil lasagne, once. Once -that is how often I made it. I wish I had known about the quicker cooking red lentils….

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Go on - you can say it. :)