You always eat them, you never leave them. That’s our motto with lentils, a humble, versatile and grateful legume if there is one. Our friends have multiple advantages: they are quick to prepare compared to beans or chickpeas, they do not require soaking, they go well with many ingredients and, well made, they are a real delight. This is a small selection of some of our best recipes featuring different varieties of this amazing food.
Classic lentils for dummies
Our step-by-step recipe is suitable for cooks and kitchen fools, includes tricks for multiplying the flavor, and you can adapt it to your tastes/hobbies. Do you accept chorizo, black pudding and other meats? Yes, but from here we invite you to try it without, because if you play the trick of sautéing and spices – especially paprika – well, you won’t miss it.
Lentils with vegetables
Traditional lentils are very popular and since there is a need for information on how to cook them properly, here is another way to prepare them. Different from the previous one, simpler and with the double presence of vegetables: on one side cooked together with the legume and then chopped, and on the other finely chopped and sautéed in a pan to be added at the last moment. We swear the combination is a success.
Express lentil stew with mussels
In this quick stew, legumes are mixed with elements that are not entirely new: vinegar, which is used to liven them up already on the plate, as is or in the form of pickled chilli peppers in different formats, and sofrito and paprika, which are normally added during cooking. But we also add another ingredient that is not so common, but which will give them a really tasty touch: the mussels that accompany these condiments in the classic pickled can which, if you don’t have it in your kitchen, you can easily find in any supermarket.
Lentils with what you have in the fridge
The lentil shares with its legume cousins the friendliness in welcoming guests in the dishes in which it is the protagonist. Vegetables of all kinds, cereals such as rice, tubers such as potatoes, sausages such as chorizo or spices such as paprika have been the classic visitors to the house of lentils, but the catalog can be further expanded to everything that allows us to poke our nose into other gastronomic traditions.
Roman style lentils with artichokes
This recipe is taken from the book Your kitchen. Encyclopedia of gastronomy (1964), an adaptation made by Juan Cabané of True French cuisine (1963), by French author and food journalist Robert J. Courtine, aka Savarín. The original is made with rainwater, but since we don’t live in the 16th century, we will take advantage of the great privilege of having drinking water coming out of the kitchen tap. We also add some artichokes at the end.
Lentil shakshuka
Shakshuka is a dish of North African origin, but the place where it achieves national dish status is Israel. In this version of lentils we use Puy lentils, but pardina, beluga or any variety of small lentils that don’t require soaking will work. You can also use canned lentils if you want to prepare a quick dish.
Tricks to lighten lentil salad and two recipes: with candied cherry tomatoes and piquillo peppers:
Lentil salads are perfect for a meal at home or to take to work in the container. They only have one small problem: sometimes they are a little mushy and it’s difficult to finish them. How to avoid the pastufla effect? Well, by choosing the right variety, respecting the cooking times if you cook them at home and combining them with a few ingredients that contrast well with their consistency. Here are two easy recipes: a very tempting lentil salad with candied cherry tomatoes and another with effortless piquillo peppers that is an absolute hit.
Edamame and lentil salad
Threshing edamame It is beneficial not only for the body when eaten, because it is a legume, but as a meditation, awareness and everything else. When you are already very relaxed, season this salad with lentils – always legumes -, onion and the crunchy touch of some flaked almonds, in addition to the delicious spices that complete the dish.
Red lentil and coconut dahl
There are around 50 varieties of legumes in India. from the and is a type of basic recipe originating from South Asian countries (India, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Maldives and Sri Lanka). Some examples are i chana dalwhich is made with chickpeas, the moong dal It is made from mung beans or green soybeans, which are very popular in Bangladesh, or the masoor dal with red lentils, like this recipe.
Lentil and chickpea burger
I am burgers without meat are inspired by the book Meatless Monday recipe book a recipe book promoted by Paul McCartney’s family. They are as delicious as the best beef and much healthier and cheaper. The only mystery they have is that of not exaggerating with the grinding of the legumes: you will not make either a hummus or a puree. We attest that they can please even the most recalcitrant carnivores.
Bonus track 1: How to cook quick spoon meals with canned lentils
As if the previous festival wasn’t enough, here are nine other recipes in which we use jarred lentils. With chorizo, with prawns, Mexican style, with potatoes, with mushrooms and sausage… and even a cream with leeks, sweet potatoes and ham.
Bonus track 2: Which chef makes the best lentils?
In our battle of lentil recipes, four chefs have entered the fray. Pepa Muñoz, of El Qüenco de Pepa, with her commitment to classicism. José Andréswhich renounces ingredients of animal origin. David Muñoz, chef of DiverXO, who replaces pork with carabineros. Anna Terés, from the blog Anna Recetas Fáciles, prepares them in a slow cooker. Which of all is the most interesting? Watch the video and you will know the winner.
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