Making Blends Using Lentils

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.

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.

Creating Your Own Whole Grain Blends

Soup blends, rice blends, bean blends, and multi-grain blends are sold everywhere.  Sometimes they are at a reasonable price, but most often they are more expensive than buying the items individually and mixing them yourself.  Blending them yourself is quite simple.  

A few years ago I was at my local health food store and was looking at the items that were available in their bulk section. I really wanted to try their wild rice blend, but the price was way more than I was able to spend. I looked at the ingredients listed on the bulk dispenser and noticed that there weren't any herbs or spices in the blend; just rice.  I knew I could easily make my own and for a much more reasonable price, so I did. I don't remember how much I ended up saving per pound, but I know the savings was substantial.

Making Your Own Blend Isn't Rocket Science-

Blending your own rice is quite simple, so if you are new to making your own blends, rice is a good starting point.

Typically, wild rice blends don't have very much wild rice in them. If you look at the ingredients, wild rice is one of the last ingredients you will find which is also the most expensive.

Keep in mind that when you make your blend, you do not need to be exact with the ingredients, nor do you have to have the exact proportions. If there is a grain you cannot find or is too expensive, either substitute it or leave it out.  Lundberg Farms has a specialty grain called Wehani, so finding it could be difficult. 

Rice Blends:
3-5 different types of rice are generally used in a blend.  A general rule of thumb is the cheapest grain makes up the largest percentage of the blend and the specialty grains make up the smaller percentage.

Using the ingredients as a guide will help start you off, but once you get the hang of it, be creative.  There are so many different varieties of rice, lentils, beans, and other whole grains out there. WinCo has just increased their selection of rice by adding forbidden rice, jade pearl rice, and Madagascar pink rice.  As long as you understand that cooking times vary from brown rice, lentils, and beans, the possibility of combinations are endless.


The Savings-

If you take the Lundberg Wild Rice Blend  for example, the package contains: Long Grain Brown Rice, Sweet Brown Rice, Wild Rice Bits, Wehani, and Black Japonica.

I have a local health food store that sells all of these varieties of rice.  They sell long grain brown rice and  sweet brown rice for under $1.00/lb, Wehani for under $3.00/lb, and Black Japonica for around $3.00/lb.  The wild rice is a little sneaky. If you notice, they label it as wild rice bits. If purchasing the whole, unbroken wild rice, you can expect to pay anywhere from $7-10/lb.  Broken wild rice however, can be purchased for around $4.00-5.00/lb. I have found a website that sells it for $3.65/lb (including shipping) if you buy it in bulk.

A simple blend of:
1 lb - long grain brown rice - ($1/lb)
1 lb - sweet brown rice - ($1/lb)
1/4 lb - wild rice bits ($5-7/lb)
1/4 lb  - wehani ($3/lb)
1/4 lb - black japonica ($3-5/lb)

These numbers are rough estimates of course, but if I were to purchase wild rice and black japonica at the low end, one pound of my wild rice blend would come out to $1.73/lb and  $2.09/lb at the high end. Buying wild rice at an even better price will only increase your savings.  My local health food store sells a similar blend for over $5.00/lb. The cheapest I could find this exact Lundberg Wild Rice Blend for is $2.87/lb, but only if purchased in 6 pound increments.

Blends to Try-

The types of rice and the amounts are only suggestions. Feel free to adjust accordingly. Store rice blend in an airtight container.

Cooking Instructions-
Add 1 part rice blend to 2 parts water/broth and any seasonings you prefer. Cook in a rice cooker for 40-45 min.  If cooking on the stove-top, bring the water/broth and the rice to a boil, cover and simmer for 40-45 min. Turn off the fire and let stand 10 minutes before removing lid.

4 parts Long Grain Brown Rice
2 parts Wehani
1 part Black Japonica

Whole Grain Rice Blend

3 parts Long Grain Brown Rice
3 parts Short Grain Brown Rice
2 parts Forbidden Rice

2 parts Long Grain Brown Rice
2 parts Brown Basmati Rice
1-2 parts Red Rice
1 part Japonica Rice

Sweet Brown Rice
Short Grain Brown Rice
Long Grain Brown Rice
Wehani
Black Japonica, Forbidden, or Wild Rice