Lentils? Help!

It does sound like you had puy lentils which are lovely and used regularly by top chefs.
Red lentils are great too, nutricious and healthy. As others have said great for soups and stews...enjoy!

ecci53
Red lentils are high in protein
Make a vegetable soup adding red lentils will give you the best of both and a meal in itself. Dipping garlic bread at the same time.

Lentils are little pellets of mud and best avoided.

I'm trying to lose weight and am veggie. I find lentils and pulses so satisfying and tasty, and very versatile. They are "good" carbs with protein and very good for you. I think they are maybe a bit like marmite! Love or hate them.

Worth a try though.

Look for recipes for dhal, Indian food which is a dish of spiced red lentils. Very nice with roast lamb as well as curries, and you can spice it up as much or as little as you like. Delicious hot or cold.
Thanks all for the recipes on here.

Boil about 1 dl of red lentils per person you are cooking for with a finely chopped onion, salt, pepper and two bay leaves.
They will come to the boil quickly if you just cover them with water. Turn heat well down once the water boils and keep an eye on the pot, as they will quickly become soft. And they boil over very fast!

Once they are cooked, fish out the bay leaves and strain off any remaining water. Mix the lentils and onions with 1 or 2 heaped tablespoons of plain flour, an egg and 1 or 2 teaspoonfuls of cumin powder (the amount depends on how much you like cumin). The consistency should be a soft mixture, much like a very soft forcemeat mixture.

Heat oil in a frying pan and form the mixture into patties with a spoon. Fry very gently, as they will burn easily if the heat is too strong. Don't try turning them for the first five minutes or so, as they break easily before a firm crust has formed.

Alternately, you can grease an ovenproof dish thoroughly and bake the mixture for half an hour at 180 degrees C.

Serve either version with boiled potatoes, green beans, or boiled rice .

Lentil patties or loaf can be frozen and are very suitable for packed lunches, picnics etc. as they don't go off even if not refrigerated for two or three hours. They are very useful too if you are having vegetarian visitors.

Red and brown lentils are the most commonly used ones and are delicious as well as being good for you
I sometimes use them to thicken/ bulk out stews but there are other colours too. although I'm not too sure what they are.

grandetanteJL65

dl?

Lentils AND potatoes? There's absolutely no protein in a meal like that.

??GabriellaG Lentils are a good source of protein.

www.fix.com tells you all you need to know about lentils.

grandetanteJL65 what is a dl?

Thanks to all for these lovely recipes. Will definitely be trying them, and also trying ither types of lentils.

Many thanks.

Love lentils but unfortunately they don’t like me I have frequent trips to the loo.

Oh, I might have a go at the lentil patties. (even though I'm no lover of cooking)
Thank you!

Oh yes, dl?

Lentils are really good for you and should be eaten quite often! I soak mine til they swell. Lentil and bacon soup is great. Buy a ham hock so you get all the goodness from the bone marrow. Not forgetting the onions, of course.

I make a shepherds pie with puy lentils ( you can get them cooked in a packet), fry onion and garlic, then carrots, celery, whatever veg you like, add tin chopped tomatoes, herbs, 1tsp marmite or veg stock, season, mix in the lentils, put in dish and top with sweet potato and potato mash, brush non dairy marg on top bake in oven till top goes brown and crispy, and you have a vegan dish that even meat eaters in the family enjoy, much lower in fat than the meat version too. Serve with green veg of choice.

That sounds delicious!

I like puy/green lentils as a side as a change from rice.pasta or couscous. I sometimes add red lentils to stews or make a dahl with curry. Yellow lentils/yellow split peas are good with cooked ham or with curry but need to be soaked overnight so I don't usually bother with them

All this talk of tasty lentil dishes has made me go and make my lentil dahl/ curry. It is just barely simmering as I write.

dl = deci-litre or 100 ml?

Merchant Gourmet do a range of ready to eat puy lentils which are very nice, and versatile. Like NannyC2 - and my mother - I use red lentils in ham hock and vegetable soup, and sometimes also yellow split peas.

Gerispringer i like the sound of that. What proportion of lentils do you use?

Ah thank you grandMattie
I've never heard of a deci-litre I can manage 100 ml though.

greyduster I use one of those merchant gourmet packets of cooked puy lentils, makes a good pie serves 4-6 I don’t use a recipe as it’s really easy , but there are some online for vegan shepherds pie.