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About Lentils

Lentils, also called pulse and dal, are a good source of protein for vegetarians. They come ina variety of colors, including white. Often they can be used interchangeably. Lentils store indefinitely, so they are perfect for the emergency larder. The queen of lentils are Lentilles du Puy. Read more about lentils at Wikipedia.com and About.com or at other urls listed below.

Recipes for Lentils

• Everyday Yellow Dal
• Pierce Street Vegetarian Chili from Heidi Swanson
• Lee's Lentils
• Lee's Healthy Red Lentil Soup
• Lentil Stew with Roast Chicken Thighs from All Seasons Cuisine blog by Kim Gibson
• Spinach with Lentils recipes from Sri Lanka and India and other exotic places
• Cream of Red Lentil Soup with Soft Herby Cheese in the Fissler Pressure Cooker
• Yellow Lentil Soup Jordanian verson
• Smoky Red Lentil Soup
• Lentilles de Puy Salad
• Warm Lentil Salad with Lentilles de Puy
• Lentilles de Puy and Mushroom Ragù vegetarian pasta sauce
• Vegetarian Meatloaf with lentils
• Curried Lentil Soup
• Curried Lentil Soup 2 from Fine Cooking by Allison Ehri Kreitler
• Green Lentil Soup with Curried Brown Butter from Heidi Swanson
• Dr. Oz's Hearty Lentil Soup
• Lentils and Silverbeet Soup (Adas Bis Silq)
• Mexican Mixed Bean and Lentil Soup
• Postrio's Golden Lentil Soup w/ Lamb Meatballs
• Beef and Lentil Stew
• Kabocha French Lentil Soup
• Coconut Red Lentil Soup from the Esalen Cookbook; made with yellow split peas and red split lentils
• Heidi Swanson's Beluga Lentil Soup with Saffron Yogurt
• Beluga Lentil Soup with Tomato-Pepper Harissa
• Chef Meg's Herbed Bulgur and Lentil Salad
• Lentils Braised in Red Wine from Night Owl Chef

Pressure Cooker Lentils

Lentils can be cooked in a pressure cooker such as the Meal'n Minutes or the Fissler. Below is a rough guide to cooking times for unsoaked lentils. Note that Lentilles du Puy would take less time.

Type Lentil (unsoaked) - Minutes Level
Lentils, French green - - 10 to 12 High ||
Lentils, green, mini (brown) - - 8 to 10 High ||
Lentils, red, split - - 4 to 6 High ||
Lentils, yellow, split (moong dal) - - 4 to 6 High ||
Peas, split, green or yellow - - 6 to 10 High ||
   

Lentils with Revere Meal'n Minutes electronic pressure cooker

Soften beans overnight by soaking in a large quantity of cold water or use a pressure cooker. I use my Revere Meal'n Minutes electronic pressure cooker; the secret is the tbs. of oil which cuts down foaming. Check your pressure cooker instructions before following these instructions.

1. Put into pressure cooker 1 cup washed beans.
2. Add 4 cups water and 1 Tbs. oil.
3. Cook on high for 15 minutes and let pressure reduce gradually.
4. If beans are not soft enough, cook again for 5 minutes. Be careful to not overcook or beans will be too mushy.
5. Drain beans, but retain liquid.

Then brown some chopped onion, carrot, celery, garlic, green pepper, jalapeño and other vegetable e.g. broccoli stems. Put the beans back in with about a cup of liquid and pressure cook again 3-4 minutes.

See Page 33 of Meal'n Minutes manual.

Lentil Soup in the Fissler

300 g lentils, 400 ml red wine or 4 tbsp vinegar in 350 ml water, 2 potatoes, peeled and diced, 1 large carrot, finely diced, 1 onion, finely diced, 100 g celeriac, finely diced, 1 parsley root, finely diced, Salt, pepper, 1 pinch of cayenne pepper or 1 dash of Tabasco, 1-2 tbsp red wine vinegar, 1 tsp sugar

1. Wash the lentils in a sieve, drain well, put the lentils into a bowl, cover with red wine and leave to soak overnight.

2. Place the lentils in the vitavit royal with 1 litre of water. Close the cooker in accordance with the instructions. Set the main control valve to level II and place on a high heat. When the first ring becomes visible, reduce the heat supply. The cooking time of about 10 minutes starts when the second ring becomes visible.

3. At the end of the cooking time, release the steam manually, shake once and open. Add the vegetables to the lentils. Close the cooker and cook on setting II for another 5 minutes. Release the steam in accordance with the instructions, shake once and open. Season with the spices, red wine vinegar and sugar.

Source:Lentil Soup http://www.fissler.gr/gr/cooking_tips_culinary_trends/recipes/recipe_detail/recipe/lentil_soup-1.html accessed 2/3/10

Outside URLS

1. Lentils - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lentil
2. Lentils About.com http://homecooking.about.com/od/foodstorage/a/lentilstorage.htm
3. Lentils Recipe from About.com http://homecooking.about.com/library/archive/bllentils.htm
4. Lentil Soup recipes from the Food Network http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipe-collections/lentil-soup/index.html accessed 10/18/10 [View List lentils_foodnetwork.txt]