So since I had various bags of lentils around, when I found this recipe on twitter, it seemed like a good idea. Fast, good food, not too laborious.
Here's the makings
The recipe talks about cilantro, a handful, but I didn't have any on hand, so I subbed a handful of mixed spearmint and rose scented geranium leaves, worked fine. And it's a brit recipe, in metric and in ounces, so I just guessed as I went.
And here's the result
This resulted in quite a bit of extra water, seen here in the background, as well as lentils. I spooned off the water, then mixed with the leftover lentils, blended with the immersion blender, and now I have two containers of lentil soup in the freezer for some time when I fancy them. I'll probably add in some coconut milk when I reheat, too. This dish was a bit low on salt and other flavors, so I'd use more salt next time and probably a lot more garlic and chili pepper. And maybe some curry powder.
It's done with red lentils, which as you know, cook down faster than the other kind, because they're the peeled version. So they make a nice cooked sort of mass in about half an hour. The other sorts of lentils tend to keep their shape, which is okay if that's what you want.
While all this activity was going on in the kitchen, I noticed right outside the window a praying mantis hard at work in the Russian sage
Haven't seen one this season, and it's always a welcome sight. They are deadly on mosquitoes, and since I provided a snack for same on my brief trip out for the herbs, I'm glad to know she's at work on the issue.
I used to make lentil stews quite often, and if I had some kind of sausage on hand would cut it up and throw it in. Seemed to add just enough flavor to the whole dish. I think this started with camping in the southwest, and carrying things like lentils and summer sausage for cooking supper over a fire.
ReplyDeleteLooks good, although I like the idea of lentils more than the reality.
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