The most common varieties of lentils are brown, yellow, red, and French green. Split lentils, called dhal, come in many varieties as well. Many varieties of dhal can be found in an East Indian market.
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| French Green Lentils |
Lentils have slightly different cooking times. French green lentils have a longer cooking time than others, but keep their shape better. Similar to beans, you do not want to add salt or acidic ingredients until the end of the cooking period. Adding oil while cooking will help the lentils hold their shape.
Lentils are often added to soup blends with beans, rice, grains, and pasta.
Before cooking lentils, sort through and take out any foreign material you may see. Rinse the dust from the lentils with cold water.
Lentil Blend:
Mix equal parts of lentils (brown, yellow, and red) and store in an airtight container.
Rinse before cooking. Add 2 cups liquid to every 1 cup of lentils.
Lentil Soup Blend:
2 parts Lentils, any variety or a mixture of yellow, brown, and red lentils
2 parts Split Peas, any color or mixed colors
1 part Barley
1 part brown rice (opt.)
When cooking, add 2 cups liquid to every 1 cup of the soup blend.
To use as a soup base, mix 1 part blend to 4 parts stock or water. Add desired seasonings, being careful to add any salt towards the end.
Increasing the amount of rice and decreasing the amount of split peas and lentils will give you a nice rice blend.
Vegan Tacos-
(Altered from “taco style lentils and rice”)
I found this recipe on hillbillyhousewife.com and my family really likes it. If you are looking for a meatless taco filling, I recommend this. I tweaked the recipe slightly according to what I had on hand and this is what I came up with:
¾ cup dry lentils
¾ cup brown rice
4 cups water or vegetable broth (can use beef or chicken broth for an un-vegan version)
2 tsp chili powder
½ tsp cumin
1 tsp onion powder
¼ tsp garlic powder
Rinse lentils and add remaining ingredients to a microwaveable rice cooker. Cook on steam cook for 45 min. Let stand 5-10 min before opening. Use as a taco filling in corn or flower tortillas along with your favorite toppings.
This recipe makes a lot of filling, but you can freeze your unused portion. This recipe also works well as part of the filling to rice and bean enchiladas. Feel free to alter this recipe even further by replacing a portion of the rice with millet or quinoa.
