Deliciously Easy Lentils Recipe

If you have high cholesterol and don’t want to go on medication, beans are your friends. Studies have shown that eating beans a few times weekly can help lower LDL (the blood cholesterol most closely associated with heart disease). Actually, if you want to control your weight and not eat a lot of meat, beans are your friends.

I’ve been experimenting with spice blends over the last few seasons and if you are a fan of flavor but don’t want to purchase lots of expensive spices to mix and experiment with, this might be your flavor hack (shortcut). If you want to try lentils for their health benefits but haven’t liked them so far, this might be your recipe. It’s a snap. Tasty.

I’ve been using Mountain Rose Herb’s spice blends – I particularly like 5 Spice (which gives a Chinese flavor) and West Indies blends. They have nice clean fresh spices (not to mention lots of other goodies if you are herbal-inclined). Warning – their website is an herbal and culinary wonder-emporium…you may spend more time there than you intend.

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Deliciously Easy Lentils Recipe

Course Dinner, Lunch, Side Dish

Equipment

• Medium Saucepan

Ingredients

• 1 cup lentils I used some lovely black lentils
• 1 large onion chopped
• 2 Tbsp olive oil
• 2-3 Tbsp spice blend of your choice
• 2-3 cups water

Instructions

• Pour oil into a medium saucepan over medium heat, and add 1 Tbsp spice and onion.
• Sauté for 5-6 minutes until onions are translucent.
• Add lentils, water and remainder of spice.
• Cover and simmer for 25-35 minutes, until lentils are desired softness.
• Enjoy.

Spiced Lentils Recipe

Let’s talk lentils. Easy and quick to cook (20-30 minutes and don’t need soaking like other beans and pulses), lentils are the short cut to more plant protein in your diet. Nutrient dense, they are also rich in fiber, folate, and other nutrients. They are low digestive gas-producers relative to other beans and pulses. I’ve heard that if you drop them into boiling water they produce less gas but I have not yet put that to the test. I also like to use a thumb-sized piece of the seaweed kombu in the water – it adds minerals and reduces gas.
Lentils absorb the flavors in which they are cooked, so what you cook them with is key to what you have in the end; tasteless mush or tasty mush. It’s all in the seasoning.
Here’s a recipe I developed over the holidays, using French green lentils, but feel free to substitute any lentil you can get your hands on.
10 min to prep
40 min to cook

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups lentils (I used French green lentils)
• 1 1/2 Tbsp ghee
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 1 large tomato, chopped, or 1/2 c tomato sauce
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 Tbsp grated fresh ginger
• 1 Tbsp cumin or curry spice
• 1 tsp allspice
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp cloves
• 3-4 c water

Directions

Place chopped onion and ghee in a large pot over medium heat until the onions are soft. Add other ingredients and bring to a boil, then lower heat to medium-low and simmer 20-30 minutes until lentils are soft.
Makes about 3 cups.
Serve warm with rice,  steamed vegetables, or roasted winter squash.