Lentils - how to cook? 9 simple and delicious recipes

Even in the most “dense” times, people knew very well how to cook lentils and why they should certainly be included in their diet. Today we are looking for environmentally friendly food, however, it is unforgivable to ignore the “modest” packages with a natural product, chasing bright packaging and fashion trends. See how you can get simple, tasty, healthy dishes from legumes!

How to cook lentils for garnish

There is nothing complicated in the technology of cooking an excellent side dish for the main course. It is just necessary to take into account certain rules and useful recommendations.

Features of cooking a side dish of lentils:

• The shell of brown, yellow, or black beans is denser, so these grains must be pre-soaked. Red lentils practically do not need such a procedure.
• Leaving the seeds to swell, do not add any spices and seasonings. We connect these components only during the heat treatment of the product, and even then in limited quantities.
• Boil the grain in the following periods: green or brown, cook 40 minutes; brown - 30; red (orange) - from 15 to 20 minutes.

To get a delicious side dish you will need:

• onions - 2 pcs.;
• crushed nuts - 60 g;
• lentil grain - 150 g;
• fresh mustard - 15 g;
• garlic cloves - 2 pcs.;
• vinegar (wine or apple) - 20 ml;
• salt, greens, feather onions, parsley, pepper.

Cooking process:

1. Leave the lentils overnight in a purified liquid. In the morning, thoroughly wash the grains, place in a pan, pour 300 ml of drinking water. Add the lavrushka, onion, clove bud and boil the composition. Then cook for 35 minutes over low heat.
2. Finely chop the second onion, chop the parsley and onion feather. We combine vinegar, mustard, chopped garlic, salt and pepper in a bowl.
3. We extract the components added for taste from the boiled lentils, combine the legumes with the cooked sauce, crushed nuts and onion composition. Gently mix the food.

Now that we know how to cook lentils for a side dish, we begin to learn another simple and tasty meal from beans.

Hearty porridge with vegetables

A feature of the inclusion of cereals in food is their wonderful nutty flavor. The aroma of lentils delicately emphasizes the taste of a meat or vegetable dish, fresh salad.

Ingredients Composition:

• butter - 30 g;
• onion and carrots;
• lentil grain - 200 g;
• laurel leaf, salt, pepper.

Cooking method:

1. So, we wash the beans well, pour 200 ml of purified water. The ratio of lentils and liquid should be strictly defined - 1: 2otherwise, we risk not to cook porridge or to get the substance in the form of mashed potatoes.
2. Add a laurel leaf or a clove of garlic, which will give the food a more aromatic and piquant shade. Cook lentils for 25 minutes over low heat, and for now we are preparing a delicious dressing. Season the food with salt only at the end of cooking.
3. We peel all the vegetables, chop the onion into cubes, cut the carrots into strips, fry the products in oil until golden. We pour the excess liquid from the finished beans, place the vegetable composition to them, season it with salt, and gently mix the food.

Hearty porridge from lentils is an excellent independent food, which if necessary we use as a side dish.

Tasty first course

Turkish bulgur, lentil chorba, chowder and mashed soups, vegetarian and lean dishes - eyes run up from this abundance of first courses. And each of them will be the most delicious, fragrant and healthy!

Grocery list:

• lean oil;
• potatoes - 6 pcs.;
• smoked pork ribs - 500 g;
• lentil beans - 200 g;
• salt, greens;
• sweet carrots, onion.

Order of preparation:

1. We wash the pork on the bones well, put it in a pan, fill it with filtered water, boil until cooked. We take out the ribs, separate the tasty meat, cut it into portions.
2. We clean and rinse the vegetables, chop the onion in half rings, finely rub the carrots. Fry foods in aromatic oil.
3. We spread the chopped potato sticks into the broth, add the pre-soaked and washed lentils. We boil the products almost until ready, then season with salt, attach the vegetable composition and the laurel leaf. After 5 minutes of heating, turn off the fire.

We serve fragrant soup from lentils in a hot state, "green" plates with food chopped leaves of fragrant plants.

Lentil cutlets

A simple and tasty recipe for mouth-watering products will allow you to get a meal that is very similar to a meat dish.

The list of components:

• cloves of garlic - 2 pcs.;
• egg;
• lean oil;
• onion;
• green lentils - a glass;
• oat flakes - 40 g;
• breadcrumbs - 150 g;
• a pinch of salt, pepper;
• coriander, zira - 1 tsp each.

Cooking process:

1. To get a tasty and high-quality dish, we surely sort through lentils, remove all extraneous inclusions. Rinse the beans well and soak for half an hour. We place the swollen product in 2 l of boiling drinking water, cook for 30 minutes until ready.
2. Season the hot grains with spices and salt, then grind with a blender. Add the garlic crushed by the press, chopped onion, oatmeal flakes, egg. Thoroughly knead the composition with your hands.
3. We heat a frying pan with vegetable oil, select a portion of cooked minced meat with a spoon, and breadcrumbs. We spread the product in hot fat, slightly press down, creating a round or oblong shape. Add a few more lentil cutlets, quickly fry from all sides to a beautiful rosy.

Serve hot food with homemade sour cream or sauce.

Lentil Diet Salad

The presented dish stimulates well the metabolic processes occurring in the body. And this means that our waist will be thin, and the body - beautiful and attractive.

Product Set:

• lean oil;
• Feta cheese - 250 g;
• fresh pumpkin - 350 g;
• pre-cooked lentils - 250 g;
• spices, Provencal herbs (1.5 tsp).

Features of the preparation:

1. Cut the coarse crust from the pumpkin, rinse well, dry with napkins, remove seeds and fiber with a spoon. We cut the vegetable into small cubes, which we immediately fry in vegetable oil along with Provencal herbs.
2. We spread the boiled beans in serving utensils, add slices of pumpkin, attach the desired spices. Gently mix food, then pour fresh oil.

It remains to put crumbled feta cheese on a dietary salad with lentils and gladly eat a portion of tasty and healthy food.

Bean Tomato Soup

For lovers of first courses with the addition of tomatoes, we have prepared a recipe for a luxurious soup with a valuable grain crop. We strengthen immunity, restore peace of mind!

Necessary components:

• ready-made meat broth - up to 2 l;
• tomato, carrot, potato - 1 pc.;
• lentils - 200 g;
• a pinch of salt;
• peppercorns
• Lavrushka - 3 pcs.

Cooking Technology:

1. Pour the meat broth into the pan, after the boiling begins, lower the pre-processed lentils into it. If we have green beans at our disposal, send them first to the soup. We throw sheets of laurel, a few peas of pepper and boil foods for up to 25 minutes.
2. Next, spread the potatoes, cut into cubes, and carrots chopped into strips. We continue to cook for another 10 minutes, until the pieces of root crops become soft.
3. Now it's the turn of the tomato. We place tomato slices in the soup, attach chopped greens, season the dish with pepper and salt. After 7 minutes of additional heating, turn off the fire.

Serve the first course hot.

Cooking option with mushrooms

A simple recipe for a delicious dish confirms once again how great the nutritional potential of lentils is.

Product Composition:

• lean oil;
• carrots - 2 pcs.;
• fresh champignons - 500 g;
• lentil grains - 200 g;
• garlic cloves - 2 pcs.;
• bulbs - 2 pcs.

Cooking method:

1. Rinse the beans well, place in a spacious dish, pour filtered water (400 ml) and heat to a boil. Remove the foam, reduce the heat to a minimum. We cook the lentils for 40 minutes, then lay them in a colander so that all the excess moisture in the glass.
2. Mushrooms are cooked for a quarter of an hour in boiling salted water, then drain the liquid.
3. We clean and wash the vegetables. We pass the garlic cloves through the press, cut the onion into cubes, chop the carrots into strips, or rub coarsely. We pass the cutting for 5 minutes, then add the mushrooms.
4. Fry foods until they have a pleasant golden hue, add lentils and chopped greens. We mix the components of the dish, heat another 3 minutes in the closed state, turn off the fire.

We spread the fragrant dishes on plates, serve hot.

Lentils with Chicken and Bell Peppers

Poultry dishes are the most favorite dishes, however, if you cook lentils with chicken and vegetables, our feelings will increase many times over.

List of ingredients;

• Sweet pepper;
• cloves of garlic - 2 pcs.;
• chicken fillet - 400 g;
• green lentils - 300 g;
• turnip onion - 1 pc.;
• olive oil - 20 ml;
• salt, dry spices.

Stages of preparation:

1. The washed beans are placed in a bowl, pour 600 ml of boiling water and boil for 35 minutes by languishing. At the end of the process, season the food with salt.
2. We chop the peeled vegetables in small pieces, finely chop the garlic cloves, fry the slices in vegetable oil, and then add the chicken fillet, divided into small parts. Sprinkle food with spices, salt and pepper. Cooking for another 10 minutes, trying not to dry the poultry meat.
3. Mix boiled lentils with chicken cooked in vegetables and decorate with chopped herbs.

We serve a dish with tomato paste or sauce with a delicate taste and delicate aroma.

Read also:lentil dishes - recipes are simple and delicious

Indian dal - a step by step recipe

It is enough to look at the components of the recipe of a popular vegetarian soup in India to understand the reason for the special love for it from the indigenous population.

Product Set:

• onion;
• oil (lean and ghee) - 1 tbsp. l .;
• fresh cilantro, garam masala (Indian seasoning) - 1 tsp;
• dried chili pods - 2 pcs.;
• salt - 20 g;
• tomatoes - 3 pcs.;
• lemon juice - 10 ml;
• red lentils - 250 g;
• asafoetida, turmeric, coriander, ginger (grated), cinnamon, caraway seeds, cloves (3 buds), curry, paprika, zira - 1 tsp each;
• mustard (seeds) - ½ tsp;
• sugar - 25 g.

Cooking process:

1. We clean the vegetables. Rub the garlic finely, chop the tomatoes into cubes, chop the onion.
2. Melt the butter in a saucepan, add cumin, cinnamon, mustard seeds, cloves and chili pods. Fry everything until a minute. Next, add the remaining spices and seasonings. Cook for another half a minute, after which we spread onions and tomatoes to other products. Lightly fry the soup components, then pour the prepared lentils.
3. Salt and pepper the composition, pour the purified water (700 ml) and simmer the products for a quarter of an hour in a closed state. At the last stage, we attach the lemon juice and garam masala.

We serve the Indian dal in hot form, in which a rich bouquet of incomprehensibly fragrant aromas and burning spices is especially manifested.

The benefits and harms of lentils

When nutritionists claim that beans have, in addition to good, harm, this is not a good conclusion.

It would be more correct to say about the individual "attitude" of the body to this culture, possible negative manifestations that occur under certain conditions.

Which lentils can benefit:

• grains not only strengthen (support) the immune system, but are also effectively used in the fight against obesity;
• beans have a beneficial effect on intestinal activity (remove toxins), help prevent the development (occurrence) of neoplasms, which ensures the folic acid contained in beans;
• the enveloping properties of grains provide beneficial assistance to people who have had the misfortune of "acquiring" gastritis or peptic ulcer;
• lentils are able to "bring" a certain order in the genitourinary system;
• the use of beans is indicated in the presence of problems with conception, as well as to maintain physical and mental activity.
• the product will help maintain the beauty and health of hair, skin and nails (legumes are involved in the production of collagen);
• finally, a significant content of tryptophan in lentils, which produces the famous hormone of happiness (serotonin), helps with depressive states, improves mood, and improves our vitality.

Harmful manifestations of lentils:

• since multicolored grains are rich in potassium, excessive consumption of beans can be manifested by numbness of the limbs, the development of urolithiasis;
• side effects such as increased gas formation and cramping (bloating) are possible, therefore, people suffering from intestinal diseases (GIT), dysbiosis, are shown to use lentils in limited quantities.

Dose portions and do not overeat the dishes from beans, even when they are “indecent” delicious, because no one has yet canceled individual intolerance!

Cook simple and tasty lentil dishes, and we will provide you with the best recipes that bring extremely positive emotions from the received dishes.