You know those awesomely long and totally overwhelming posts that have one million recipe links? This is not going to be one of them.
This is just a love letter to lentils. With a few links.
My sisters were here this week (hey, how about I tell you the same thing 100 times and you pretend I didn’t? sheesh.) and I uncovered a shocking secret about my younger sister: SHE HAS NEVER TRIED LENTILS. Or had never, until this week when she stayed with me and obviously, I fed her her very first lentils like any big sister would. After her first bite, she said, “Yummmm. They taste kind of like beans.” What?!?!?!?
I might have been in denial for the last few years. Not everyone buys lentils on every grocery trip. Or has any idea where to find them in the store or how to make them or why in the world they should make them. So in honor of my own personal love for all things lentil and the fact that these lentil recipes are some of my favorite recipes EVER done on Pinch of Yum, I thought this post was very necessary.
Lentil newbies, I love you and this is for you!
What are lentils? Basically, beans. Small, cute little protein-packed beans.
Where do I buy lentils? At the grocery store, usually in the canned or dried goods section. I’m guessing it will be by the other dried beans. Here in the Philippines, I can buy them canned, but I’ve never seen that in the states.
How much do they cost? At home, I could buy them for less than a dollar per pound.
Are they really that healthy? Fiber, protein, folate, iron… gang’s all there. For real!
How do I make them? Basically, you have to boil them until they’re soft. No presoaking or any other annoying steps required.
Will I like eating them? Yes.
Red Curry Lentils: amazing (like, honestly the best ever) flavors from the coconut milk, curry paste, and garam masala, plus a pretty red color. For surely the best lentil starter recipe for all you newbies. I’ve actually gone so far as to name this my personal #1 favorite Pinch of Yum recipe. Wait, do I have to choose just one? There are a lot that I love and most of them involve more stuff like sugar and butter and chocolate. But I reeeeeally love this one.
Easy Red Lentil Dhal: made in about 20 minutes, made in about 20 minutes, made in about… saucy and mildly spicy, perfect over rice, and made in about 20 minutes. All over it.
Creamy Thai Sweet Potatoes and Lentils: coconut milk FOR LIFE, can be stew-thick or soup-thin, with tomatoes and sweet potatoes and cabbage to round out the health-ometer.
Kabocha Squash Lentil Curry: extra healthy because of the squash and tomatoes, super creamy and smooth consistency, fills you up forrrrever, and hey! you can use any kind of squash.
Coconut Green Curry Lentils: very green – including spinach – yay, a light and bright flavor from the green curry paste, making it all cozy and saucy and perfect for pajama dinners.
Thai Basil Coconut Lentils: super unique, bright, fresh lemongrass and ginger flavors from the tom kha paste, plus extra veggies for lots of color and texture variety, loads of fresh basil.
Apparently lentil recipes are affected by that same shopping principle that makes you gravitate towards buying different varieties of what is really the same item, every.single.time. Does that happen to the rest of the world? I definitely have at least 50 varieties of the exact same cheapo flip flops in my little shoe cabinet. Want to know what I brought way too much of to the Philippines? FLIP FLOPS. Good grief.
At least the good thing is that I wear one pair of them.
{cringe}
In the end, my sister gave red curry lentils two thumbs up even though we made it with broccoli and it sort of turned brown. You can’t lose here, friends. Lentils for life!
Haaaaappy weekend!
Look forward to more lentil recipes.
I just found you and happy I did. This recipe I use for my family and they love it. Not as complicated as it looks. Can’t wait to try yours.
Lentil āMeatloafā
(Adapted from Cooking with Trader Joeās)
Lentil āMeatloafā
(Adapted from Cooking with Trader Joeās)
Preheat the oven to 350
Ingredients:
ā¢ 3 tbsp. ground flaxseed, soaked in 1/2 cup of warm water for 10 minutes until a gel forms (often known as a āflax eggā)
ā¢ 3/4 cup walnut halves & pieces
ā¢ 1 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
ā¢ 3 cloves garlic, minced
ā¢ 1 yellow onion, diced
ā¢ 2 carrots, peeled and shredded
ā¢ 1/2 green apple, unpeeled and shredded
ā¢ 1 tsp salt (or more to taste)
ā¢ 1/2 tsp ground black pepper (or to taste)
ā¢ 1 tbsp. poultry seasoning (a mix of sage, thyme, onion powder & other goodies)
ā¢ 2 tsp ground chili powder
ā¢ 1 tsp ground cumin
ā¢ 1 tsp granulated garlic
ā¢ 2 slices whole grain bread (I like TJās or Ezekial sprouted wheat)
ā¢ 1 pkg. Trader Joeās refrigerated steamed lentils
ā¢ 1 tbsp. additional flaxseed meal
Topping:
ā¢ 1/3 cup ketchup
ā¢ 1 tsp yellow mustard
ā¢ 1 tsp brown sugar
Directions:
Roast walnuts on a parchment or foil-lined baking sheet for 6 min. Set aside to cool. Once the walnuts have cooled, pulse in a food processor until finely chopped. (use nut grinder)
Add oil to a heavy skillet over medium-high heat. Add onion, garlic and carrots and apple until tender, about 3 minutes. Add the walnuts, salt, pepper, poultry seasoning, chili powder, cumin and granulated garlic and sautƩ for another minute or two. Remove from heat and add to a large mixing bowl.
Process bread into breadcrumbs and add to the mixing bowl along with the āflax egg.ā
Use food processor and process the lentils until smooth. Or you can add them to the mixing bowl and mash them by hand with a fork or wooden spoon (this was almost easier in the end). Combine all ingredients thoroughly.
Press the mixture firmly into a 5×9-inch loaf pan. Spread the ketchup topping evenly over the loaf.
Bake for 45 minutes and let cook for 10 minutes before serving, which gives you just enough time to whip up the brussels sprouts. Serve with lots of ketchup or BBQ sauce.
i like your cremy salad s they are nice
I love lentils too! But I haven’t done nearly the variety – our normal is lentil tacos (basically season them similar to taco beef). I am so excited by all your Thai flavors!!
Lentil tacos! I love it!
My favorite is Mudjaharra. This is basically lentils, rice and carmelized onions. I go back to nursery school with this dish…I can eat hot; I can eat is cold; I can eat it in the pot nine days old. (Ha! It never lasts THAT long.)
Delicious! Thanks Judy!
So here is my question. What kind of lentils do you use? When I go to the store there are three bags sitting there. Red, green and brown. What colour are your plain lentils? Green?
Brown. š
Your red curry lentils are my absolute favorite recipe on your whole blog, despite having tried tons of your recipes. Just finished a nice big bowl for a late lunch! Thanks for this blog, I love it.
Thanks Casey! they’re my fave too! š š
Thank you for these AWESOME recipes š
I’m a lost soul who is trying to eat healthy, and I just stumbled upon this sight. I want to say thank you! These all look so tasty and I’m going to try them all out.
Glad to hear it Sarah! š Lentils are a good place to start!
I googled “awesome lentil dishes” because I’m crazy about lentils but I always make them the same way (boil them with rice, pasta, carrots, and maybe some tomatoes, add loads of cilantro and chili flakes / cayenne). But this will keep me going all week! THANK YOU now I have options
Just found your blog on a google hunt for more lentil goodies! Made lentil tacos tonight, but am making notes on these nummy-looking ideas, too.
If you’re still looking for canned, straight-up lentils, check out whole foods. They run me about 1.50 a can, which isn’t bad for a speedy supper.
Thanks Teresa! I love the idea of lentil tacos!
I love this blog, but I was just wondering if you or anyone has noticed white crescent shaped things that come out of the lentils when you cook them…? Does anyone know what these are and if these are normal?
The only thing I can think of is that sometimes the skins come off if you cook them for a long time… ? But I have never noticed anything like that.
Wow — wonderful collection of recipes. The second one made me hungry for kabocha squash again, and I have all the ingredients for the creamy Thai recipe in my cabinet, so that’s on for tonight!
What a great collection of lentil recipes. I love Indian dal and Puy Lentils with a red wine sauce, but after that my inventiveness seems to fail me.
Loved!! Like you said it was even better the next day (and still better 2 days later!). Thanks for the great recipe, Lindsay! I am now officially out of my food rut.
Your lentil post was at the perfect time! I LOVE lentils, too, and had just bought a big bag so I could make a large batch to freeze to have on hand for easy meals. I have wanted to make your recipe for red curry lentils when you originally posted it, but forgot about it. I finally got to make it last night and LOVED LOVED LOVED it!!!!!!! So thanks for such a great, easy recipe!! And I’m a dietitian, so I loved how healthy it was too! I served it on brown rice with a side of roasted brussel sprouts. Thanks again for such a tasty way to eat one of my favorite foods!
Awesome! Love the brussel sprouts with it! š
How timely of you to post this! One of my food goals for 2013 is to incorporate lentils into my diet and cooking routine. Thanks for the collection of lentil recipes!