lentils

[Blue Hills]

Yep I know they are much derided but have recently at a fairly advanced age bought a packet or two - and found some at the back of the cupboard.
They seem to be handy healthy things.
Any favourite recipes?
Simple ones?

(any other recipes involving dried pulses/beans or whatever also welcome - I live quite close to Peckham and you can buy a world of weird and wonderful dried stuff in bags from there)

 

[KnittyNorah]

Yep I know they are much derided but have recently at a fairly advanced age bought a packet or two - and found some at the back of the cupboard.
They seem to be handy healthy things.
Any favourite recipes?
Simple ones?

(any other recipes involving dried pulses/beans or whatever also welcome - I live quite close to Peckham and you can buy a world of weird and wonderful dried stuff in bags from there)

Dhal, with whatever flavourings/spices are your favourites.
Once cooked, you can serve with anything you fancy/is left over in the bottom of the fridge that might be tasty. Be warned that 'old' dried pulses, inc lentils, will take longer to cook than 'new' ones.
My 'standard' recipe for two, with rice or nan and several side dishes inc salad, is 100g red lentils, 350ml water, 1 tsp turmeric, juice of half a lime or lemon, pinch of salt. Put in a pan, heat up and bring to a rolling boil. Let simmer for 7 - 10 mins (or a bit longer if the lentils are really old) until the lentils are soft and it all seems to have thickened up a bit. While the lentils are simmering, heat up some butter/ghee, or some oil, in a frying pan and add some fenugreek, fresh chillis, cumin seeds and/or any other preferred spices, and swirl about over a gentle heat for a minute or so - be careful not to burn them!
Stir the butter/oil and spices into the cooked lentils and leave to stand, lid on, for a few minutes for the flavours to 'absorb'.
Serve with whatever sort of starch you like, and some chutney, chopped onions, yoghurt and other goodies ... Sometimes I make 'plain lentils' ie water, lemon, pinch salt, then when they're cooked I add a tin of chopped tomatoes, lot of fried/caramelised onions and big handfuls of fresh herbs. Nice with jacket spuds if its really thick; if its not that thick, you can turn it into a sort of soup by adding some bacon bits or ham trimmings and letting it simmer very gently for a while for the flavour to come out from the ham/bacon.

 

[IaninSheffield]

Yep I know they are much derided but have recently at a fairly advanced age bought a packet or two - and found some at the back of the cupboard.
They seem to be handy healthy things.
Any favourite recipes?
Simple ones?

(any other recipes involving dried pulses/beans or whatever also welcome - I live quite close to Peckham and you can buy a world of weird and wonderful dried stuff in bags from there)

Depends on the type of lentils, but:
If you like asian food, then a red lentil dahl is an easy start - plenty of recipes & 'how to' vids on YouTube. Don't get too hung up on precise ingredient lists; be bold and include what you have or what you like. The most basic would be lentils, onions & garlic, plus a spice of some kind (garam masala if you have it, or any generic curry powder if not), to which you can add ginger, chillies, tomatoes, fresh coriander etc if you have them and/or like them.

Another easy start is to use Puy or green lentils instead of minced beef in in more familiar recipes e.g. cottage pie or chilli con carne.

Yes, their health benefits are well founded, and they have the added benefit of being cheaper than meat ... which appeals to this Yorkshireman 😉

 

[KnittyNorah]

To expand on the idea of lentils as a meat replacement in familiar dishes - if you are doubtful, or you are cooking for others who are doubtful, try initially with replacing a quarter of the (cooked) meat with (cooked) brown or green lentils. If you think that's OK, and I'm fairly sure you will, slowly increase the lentils and decrease the meat. Adding a little more 'umami' flavour in the form of stuff like caramelised onions can help in case of doubt, too.
The only issue is some people who are sensitive to fibre in their diets might 'suffer', but most people can adjust fairly quickly if pulses become a regular thing.

Chickpeas are another pulse that has a fairly neutral flavour and isn't problematic to cook, as long as they've not been stored for too long. I like cooked chickpeas added to salads with either salad spuds or pasta and lots of tasty dressing, onions, tomatoes, peppers, leaves etc etc.

 

[Blue Hills]

thanks for the reply @IaninSheffield

yep, I've already got packets of red, green and brown lentils - so am just becoming aware that there is quite a range.
One attraction of them for me is that it seems you don't HAVE TO soak them overnight to avoid rather alarming sounding consequences.
But do you soak yours?
Pluses and minuses of soaking?
I understand that it can reduce boiling/cooking time which yep might appeal to careful yorkshire folk - and lancastrians

Any recommendations of cheap simple Indian/Asian veggie cooking books (as with bike maintenance I prefer hard copy paper for this sort of thing) also welcome.

On the meat thing - sounds good, am all for minimising meat consumption for all sorts of reasons, including but not limited to cst.

 

[ClichéGuevara]

They make a decent substitute for mince in a bolognese.

 

[KnittyNorah]

Lentils don't need soaking - they only take a few minutes to cook.

 

[Blue Hills]

Chickpeas are another pulse that has a fairly neutral flavour and isn't problematic to cook, as long as they've not been stored for too long. I like cooked chickpeas added to salads with either salad spuds or pasta and lots of tasty dressing, onions, tomatoes, peppers, leaves etc etc.

How do you rate dried chickpeas vis-a-vis the canned things which are of course available very cheaply from the likes of Lidl and Aldi? - and possibly waitrose for all I know.

 

[Blue Hills]

Lentils don't need soaking - they only take a few minutes to cook.

the bags I have seem to say boil hard for 10 minutes and then simmer for something like 40 minutes?
Are they being over-cautious/boiling good stuff away?

 

[KnittyNorah]

Jack Monroe - who wrote Tin Can Cook - has some excellent lentil recipes; you can find many of them on line if you don't want to shell out for the book. She annoys me but her recipes are spot-on.

 

[Arrowfoot]

Discovered the health value and taste of lentils late. Soup, curry or stew. All brilliant. Absolutely yes on soaking overnight to avoid the mentioned consequences.

Here is stew recipe. Goes great with rice, supermarket naan, chapati or ordinary bread. Or on its own. Bloody cheap!

https://www.theharvestkitchen.com/hearty-lentil-stew/

 

[Blue Hills]

Jack Monroe - who wrote Tin Can Cook - has some excellent lentil recipes; you can find many of them on line if you don't want to shell out for the book. She annoys me but her recipes are spot-on.

I'm intrigued by the idea of a lentil fan being annoying - do say more.
Do lentils make you crazy?
Intolerant?

 

[KnittyNorah]

How do you rate dried chickpeas vis-a-vis the canned things which are of course available very cheaply from the likes of Lidl and Aldi? - and possibly waitrose for all I know.

Dried ones are lighter in weight ... but of course tinned ones don't need pre-soaking or cooking. And won't get attract weevils or mice.
The only thing to be careful with the canned ones which as you say are very cheap, is that they're not canned with salt or sugar. Honestly some packaged stuff has strange things in at times! Just check the label.
There are some people who use the liquid from canned chick peas to whip up like egg whites and use in cakes, meringues etc. That's OK if you want bean-flavoured meringues - don't believe all you read!

 

[Blue Hills]

Discovered the health value and taste of lentils late. Soup, curry or stew. All brilliant. Absolutely yes on soaking overnight to avoid the mentioned consequences.

Here is stew recipe. Goes great with rice, supermarket naan, chapati or ordinary bread. Or on its own. Bloody cheap!

https://www.theharvestkitchen.com/hearty-lentil-stew/
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thanks for that but I had the idea that there were no potential gut consequences from lentils - that the soaking MIGHT just reduce cooking time. Though as I said I have no idea if there are negatives to soaking.

 

[KnittyNorah]

the bags I have seem to say boil hard for 10 minutes and then simmer for something like 40 minutes?
Are they being over-cautious/boiling good stuff away?

Give em a go - they're so darned cheap that you can do that.
Just try cooking a big spoonful in some water and see how long until they soften. I often do that anyway if I get lentils from a new source. Brown ones seem to take longer to cook, split red lentils are the fastest IME. You can cook them for a lot longer but I like my dhal with a bit of texture to it. If someone doesn't like 'bits' in their soup/stew/saude, you can cook them down to a smooth puree.