This culture comes from legumes. Its appearance resembles colored peas of various sizes. The kernels can be the size of rice or larger than peas. The taste of the product corresponds to its origin; it is a pronounced bean with a light sweetness. Lentils are of different types: red, brown, green ...
Now we will focus on how to cook green lentils. This variety of legumes takes time to prepare, it is a rather capricious product, but you should not immediately panic, let's start with the simplest.
So how long should this product be boiled? And what can you cook from it?
To cook delicious lentils, you need to heed the following tips:
For those who don't know what exactly to cook with these green grains, below are simple recipes for preparing mouth-watering dishes.
Ingredients:
It is worth noting that this recipe will appeal to those housewives who cannot catch the moment of cooking the grains. Even if they are slightly overcooked, nothing bad will happen, because they still need to be ground with a blender.
How much to cook green lentils has already been said above. First, it must be soaked in water for a couple of hours, so that it is softer and faster to cook, and put on fire.
Cooking method:
It is better to serve puree soup in small bowls with the addition of low-fat cream and croutons.
The unique aroma of unusual peas and croutons, the tenderness of the structure of the soup will appeal to the whole family. Such a dish will perfectly diversify the dining table and delight guests.
Many people know that the combination of legumes with smoked meats is especially tasty. This recipe is intended for those housewives who want to please their loved ones with just such a dish, and also know how to cook delicious green lentils.
Ingredients:
Here you need to carefully monitor the preparation of green culture. It's not as easy as making cereals. Do not hesitate to taste it during cooking, so as not to spoil the product.
Overcooked grains don't look very nice, while undercooked food looks more like dried peas.
Cooking method:
The aroma will gather in the kitchen not only the whole family, but also all the neighbors from the street. Believe me, legumes with smoked meat and garlic will become a frequent guest on the table. The recipe, as you can see, is very simple, and the dish is very tasty and satisfying.
Protein is necessary for the human body. This is the building material for our cells. Most of this substance is found in meat. But what if now fasting or vegetarianism has become the basis of life?
It turns out that legumes contain a sufficient amount of protein, which is why dishes made from them are excellent, and most importantly, for a long time, satisfy the feeling of hunger.
Ingredients:
After such a dish with mushrooms, you can understand that meat is not so important when there is so much tasty around and fasting can be done with pleasure.
Cooking method:
An amazing culture is endowed with many qualities. In addition to its high protein content, it contains many other beneficial trace elements. In our country, this culture is not very popular now, although Russia at one time was its supplier. Even loaves were baked from it.
It is difficult to answer why this type of legume is now so poorly in demand, but the fact remains. But the countries of Asia and North Africa are happy to use this useful product, which is what we wish for you!
Learn how to cook green lentils, eat to your health!
Just 100 years ago in Russia, lentils were not only found everywhere on the tables of both rich and poor, but also exported to many countries of the world. However, not everyone knew how to cook lentils for a delicious meal.
The oldest agricultural crop of the legume family has been known since the Neolithic; it appeared in Russia in the 14th century and was the basis for many dishes. Now they forgot about the queen of legumes, but in vain!
The nutritional value of lentils is enormous, with over sixty percent vegetable protein and a wide range of minerals and trace elements. It is not for nothing that the monks in Russia used it as the main source of food during Lent; many dishes can be prepared from it: soups, pastries, side dishes.
From a medical point of view, the queen of beans is a treasure trove of health. It strengthens the immune system and improves metabolism. Regular use will not only improve the health of the body, but also cure many ailments.
The list is endless. Moreover, lentils also have cosmetic properties, are indispensable for diets, and are also very useful for women's health during pregnancy, in solving gynecological problems.
Several varieties of lentils are known.
Place the prepared cereal in boiling water and cook over low heat, not forgetting to stir. Salt or add tomatoes at the end 5-10 minutes before cooking, since salty or acidified medium doubles the cooking time.
During the cooking process, it is advisable to add spices and a little oil, preferably olive oil. This will make the beans softer, softer, and more aromatic.
Each variety has a different cooking time. Of course, you can constantly try for softness and taste, but it is better to remember or write down how much to cook lentils until tender, depending on the color.
Red and yellow are cooked very quickly, on average 15 minutes. Brown and black will be ready in 25 minutes. And cooking green takes from 45 minutes to an hour.
You can cook not only on the stove, so it is important to know how much lentils are cooked depending on the cooking method:
For side dishes, you need to take two parts of water for one part of cereal. Try to maintain a strict 1: 2 ratio to avoid undercooked or overcooked lentils.
If you use a microwave oven or a double boiler, then it is enough that the water is 1-2 cm above the grain level.
It has long and firmly entered our life, it allows you to quickly prepare dishes in an automatic mode. However, not every housewife knows how to cook lentils.
Use the modes "Quenching", "Porridge". If the dish consists of several ingredients, then the legumes should be added last.
Lentils with mushrooms are prepared as follows.
Thus, you can cook lentils with meat, chicken, vegetables. Be sure to use spices, they brighten up the taste and aroma.
Many housewives do not know that in a microwave oven you can not only defrost food or heat food, but also cook.
Pour red or yellow lentils into a special dish, salt, add spices and fill with hot water so that it covers the beans by 1.5-2 cm.Put in the microwave, you do not need to close the lid. Set to maximum setting and cook for 7-10 minutes. The lentils are crumbly, the grains are whole and firm.
When cooking in a double boiler, useful vitamins and minerals are preserved, the dishes are guaranteed not to burn, and the porridge is crumbly. The peculiarity of cooking is less water than with the usual method of cooking in a saucepan.
Put one and a half glasses of any lentils in a container, pour in a glass of water, add butter, spices and salt to taste. Set the time to 1 hour. After finishing cooking, taste it, you can add a few more minutes to achieve the desired softness.
How to cook lentils to be healthy and tasty? There are many recipes, add imagination, do not be afraid to experiment, and you can please your loved ones with unusual dishes.
It is equally good both as an independent dish and as a side dish for meat or fish.
Sprinkle the porridge with finely chopped herbs before serving.
Add lentils to boiling water in a 1: 2 ratio. Cook for about 15 minutes with the addition of a spoonful of vegetable oil, so the beans will be softer and more tender. Add salt and spices at the end. To smooth the puree, beat or pass through a sieve.
Serve with fresh vegetables and herbs. A special taste will be added by a mint leaf in a plate.
How to cook brown lentils? What to cook? Try lentil soup, a hearty dish that's rich in protein and micronutrients. In the cold season, it saturates, warms, adds piquancy and a touch of exoticism.
The recipe for a classic soup is as follows.
Black lentils are also called Beluga. The seeds are shiny, rich in color, very similar to black caviar, hence the nickname. This is a rather expensive product, as it is characterized by laborious harvesting.
Sprouted black lentils are very useful; they are added to salads. When cooked, it has a solid form and a pleasant delicate taste. Beluga looks exotic on sandwiches. In Europe, delicious soups, exquisite sauces are prepared from it, and in Asian countries they are mixed with rice or added to vegetable stews.
Green lentils originated in France, in the small town of Puy, which is why they are sometimes called French or by the name of the city. It has a delicate, spicy swing and unusual flavors. Many gourmets consider this variety to be the most delicious of all. Perfectly retains its shape during cooking and is recommended for preparing delicious dishes. It is best added to salads.
The Puy variety is not always available, so slightly unripe lentils are its counterpart. It is brownish-green in color and does not boil over. It is easy to distinguish it from Puy; French lentils have a marble grain pattern.
Now you know how healthy and nutritious lentils are. Do not neglect it, and your diet will be replenished with delicious dishes.
Lentils are a dietary product, have a low calorie content and are indispensable for a slim figure. It can be used to make not only soups and cereals, but also bread, salads, pastries, cutlets and even sweets.
This amazing plant is not able to accumulate toxins and does not lose its healing properties even after heat treatment. It is not for nothing that lentils are called the queen of beans.
Eat it with pleasure and be healthy!
Modern housewives undeservedly deprive their attention of lentil recipes. Simple and tasty with their help, a complete lunch or dinner is prepared. It is important that it also turns out to be very useful. Lentils can be used to make not only soup, but also the most delicate porridge, side dish, salad, casserole and other interesting options.
The easiest way to prepare a side dish of lentils is using any model of multicooker. For such a recipe, you will need to take: 180 g of green lentils, 2 times more pure water, a couple of garlic cloves, half an onion and a carrot, oil, 1 bell pepper (Bulgarian), salt.
Served ready-made garnish of lentils with any meat sauce, fish or chicken.
This thick red stew is great for warming and nourishing. When preparing it, you can use not only fresh tomatoes, but also canned ones. They should be chunks in their own juice (350 g). Also taken: 5-6 cloves of garlic, a handful of olives, a little more than 300 g of red lentils, onions, carrots, a mixture of dried oregano, tarragon and basil, salt.
Before serving, the soup is seasoned with tarragon.
Few people know that you can cook lentils in the form of porridge. Adding vegetables will make it even more delicious and satisfying. For such a dish will be used: 2 tbsp. red lentils, 3 small white onions, a small carrot, salt, oil.
Lastly, sprinkle the porridge with finely chopped herbs.
This recipe will allow you to cook a full-fledged hearty dinner from lentils. The dish gives a feeling of fullness for a long time and energizes. For its preparation will be used: chicken (thigh) 650 g, large carrots, onions, tomato, 250 g lentils (green), 0.5 teaspoon dried thyme, a pinch of basil, salt, oil.
Before serving, the dish is thoroughly mixed again.
The number of options that can be prepared from lentils is pleasantly surprising. Even cutlets can be made on the basis of this useful ingredient. They are perfect for fasting. As part of such cutlets: 1 tbsp. green lentils, an egg, 60 g of oatmeal, a white onion, a couple of garlic cloves, a pinch of pepper, coriander and cumin, salt, breadcrumbs, butter.
It must be remembered that the dish is fried very quickly. Therefore, it is better to mold the cutlets in advance.
Lentil salad can be safely eaten even on a strict diet. The main thing is to properly prepare the legumes for him. Green lentils (220 g) are simply boiled in salted water. In addition to it, it is used: 300 g of boiled chicken fillet, a red onion, a sour apple, a bunch of green onions and parsley, 1 tbsp. mustard, 1 tsp. bee honey, half a glass of root vegetable broth.
Before taking a sample, you need to leave the salad bowl with treats in the cold for about half an hour.
This casserole is also suitable for a festive table. And for its preparation, the simplest available products will be used (1 cup - 350 ml): half a cup of water, milk, potato broth and green lentils, 800 g of potatoes, 550 g of minced meat, 3 tbsp. ghee, carrots, 70 g of hard cheese, a pinch of fenugreek, curry and asafoetida. Spices can be changed to any other to your liking.
Serve very tasty casserole with sour cream and garlic sauce.
The simplest lentil puree soup cooks very quickly. The result will definitely appeal to even the smallest family members. For such a dish, use: 1.3 liters of chicken broth, 250 g of red lentils, 1 large tomato, 60 g of ketchup, an onion, 120 g of unsweetened yogurt, any seasonings, salt.
Soup with unsweetened yoghurt is served. By replacing the broth with plain water, it can be made vegetarian.
Lentils for a side dish can also be prepared in a very unusual way, for example, according to a popular Indian recipe with numerous spices. For such a dish, the original ingredient is used - coconut milk (180 ml), and, besides it: 170 g of red lentils, a pinch of curry, turmeric, pepper and cinnamon, half a red onion, 3 cloves of garlic, salt.
Lentils are soft beans, they are sold dried, to make it tasty, you need to know how to cook lentils. They use it in first courses, prepare side dishes, cereals, meatballs. The best recipes will allow you to cook not tasty, but also healthy, because beans are rich in proteins, iron, potassium, carbohydrates, and contain folic acid. You can cook them both in the classic way and in a multicooker.
There are many varieties of lentils, these beans come in different colors, flavors and shapes. Different varieties are used in certain categories of dishes. Especially popular are red, yellow, black, green, orange and brown lentils. Brown and black are taken for the preparation of side dishes and cereals, since during heat treatment their grains retain their shape.
In the first courses, red, yellow beans and orange lentils are good - these grains are quickly boiled during heat treatment, they are not suitable in cereals, since they can turn into mashed potatoes, but in soups they cook quickly. A green plate is a large lentil, therefore it is suitable both for light stews and in a salad, and for preparing a beautiful aromatic side dish.
Before cooking the beans, they should be sorted out - remove debris and husks, to make it more convenient, you can pour lentils into a white dish or on a white towel - this way the debris is more visible. Then transfer it to a sieve or colander and rinse for a couple of minutes under running water.
We prepare the product depending on its color - orange and red lentils are cooked for 15-20 minutes, they boil well and go into creamy soups. The brown one is cooked for 25-30 minutes, it retains its shape well and goes into side dishes. Green beans are boiled for 40-45 minutes, due to the dense consistency of green beans, they are good for preparing salads. Black lentils will be ready in 20-25 minutes, they go into porridge. Yellow - after 10-15 minutes, most often it is used in the first.
You can use chopped lentils in mashed soups, they will cook in just ten to twenty minutes, they are cheaper, and the shape of the beans in mashed soups is not important.
To add spice to lentil dishes, it is good to put lavrushka, celery roots and herbs, parsley, fresh rosemary sprigs, thyme in them, season with nutmeg - the beans go well with spices. To properly cook lentils is to salt the dishes with them at the very end, 5 minutes before the end of cooking, this is the rule for cooking all legumes - they take longer to cook in salted water.
Lentils are prepared simply and quickly using a multicooker, you don't even have to think about how to cook properly, because the multicooker does it itself. All recipes here are based on the same principle - you just need to take prepared beans and other products in the volumes that these recipes provide, place all the ingredients in a multi-bowl, mix gently with a plastic spatula, close the lid, select the Multi-Cook mode, and an hour later - a great aromatic dish is ready.
It is worth experimenting with a multicooker, making changes to the recipes or supplementing them according to your own taste, each time creating a new lentil culinary masterpiece.
To prepare this dish you will need:
All are thoroughly mixed in a multi-bowl, add water and simmer for 1 hour. If not enough salty, add salt at the end of cooking.
Red porridge with tomatoes is an excellent dish for the whole family. To prepare it, you will need the following products:
Allow water to drain well from the washed beans, pour over fresh tomatoes with boiling water, immerse them in ice water for two seconds, peel and puree, wash and peel the carrots and onions, finely chop the onions, rub the carrots. Pour oil into a multi-bowl and simmer vegetables for 7-10 minutes, at the end add garlic, ground until mushy. Pour in lentils, add mashed tomatoes, pour in water. Mix the ingredients gently. Cook on the porridge position for 20-25 minutes. At the end of cooking salt and pepper the dish.
Regardless of the recipes used to make lentils, there are two ways to cook them on the stovetop.
Cold method: for 1 volume of lentils of any color, take 2 volumes of unboiled water and coarse salt - at the rate of 1 tsp. three glasses of these products. Sort the lentils, rinse, pour into a bowl, pour in water and bring to a boil, reduce the heat, and, closing the pan, bring to readiness. Cook for as many minutes as it takes to cook the variety. Season with salt shortly before the end of cooking. If you cook for a salad or for a side dish, drain the water at the end of cooking, leave the liquid for porridge and mashed potatoes.
Hot method: for 1 volume of any beans - 2 volumes of unboiled water, coarse salt - at the rate of 1 tsp. for three glasses of food. Sort out lentils, rinse. Boil the water, add the prepared beans, cook until tender in a closed saucepan, at the end of cooking - salt. How to make lentil soup - the following dish ideas will tell you.
Orange variety cream soup is popular in the countries of the East. You will need:
Boil the salted and peppered water. Wash and peel potatoes and carrots, chop into cubes, finely chop the onion. Sort the beans, rinse, place them with vegetables in boiled water, cook over low heat for 20-25 minutes. At the end of cooking, beat until creamy. Serve with cream and parsley leaves. This soup will turn into a dietary meal if potatoes are replaced with celery stalks.
Thick Red Lentil Soup This flavorful soup is made with lots of beans and vegetables in a little water. Required components:
Sort the lentils, rinse, rub the carrots and garlic, chop the onion as small as possible. Dip the main ingredients into the broth, add tomato sauce, add spices. Let it boil, then cook over low heat for 30 minutes - until all the ingredients are well boiled. Turn off the heat, use a hand blender on low speed to prevent the soup from splashing, purée the ingredients. Season the soup with salt, squeeze the lemon juice into a plate when serving and garnish with mint leaves.
Lentil porridge is unusually satisfying. For their nutritional value, they were present on the menu of Egyptian pyramid-builders. The product is in harmony with white meat and mushrooms.
Brown bean porridge with chicken and mushrooms, for a meal you need:
Sort the lentils, rinse, place in a cooking bowl, add water, cook for about half an hour. Lightly fry the mushrooms and chopped onions. Cut the chicken into small cubes, fry in hot oil until light crust, place with mushrooms and onions, add spices, a couple of tablespoons of water and simmer for three minutes. Puree the beans or leave them whole, transfer to the mushrooms and chicken and put in the oven for 10 minutes.
Black Bean Porridge with Chicken is a gourmet meal made from black beans and chicken fillets. We take:
Fillets are coarsely chopped, fried for ten minutes with onions, tomato sauce is added to them at the last minute. The beans are boiled for a quarter of an hour. After - combine them with chicken, sprinkle with curry and bake in the oven for about seven minutes.
An appetizing stew with yellow lentils looks elegant - you will need:
Boil the yellow lentils. Heat crushed garlic, grated ginger and curry in hot oil. Chop vegetables into cubes, place in a pan, simmer for five minutes. Place the beans there, add the broth, simmer for about five minutes more. Serve garnished with a lime wedge. The green (plate) variety is suitable for many dishes. Beans of this variety are beautiful and tasty meatballs. For them you will need:
Boil the beans for 45 minutes, remove from the water, let cool and puree. Finely chop the onion, grate the carrots and garlic, mix with caraway seeds and coriander in the puree. Drive eggs into the mass and add, salt, mix, making the mass homogeneous. Form flat round meatballs from minced meat and fry in a hot frying pan for three to four minutes on each side until light crust. Serve lentil meatballs, garnished with parsley sprigs, with sour cream.
Delicious red lentils with vegetables!
Ever tried red lentils? This is a bright orange cereal, very crumbly (rich in starch), quickly boiled down into a luxurious puree. This is one of the most delicious types of lentils. Which is perfectly set off by sour vegetables (or citrus juices), garlic and onions, peppers and aromatic herbs.
If you don't know how red lentils taste, but love mashed peas, then you will definitely love this tasty, satisfying (albeit lean) dish. Recommend.
in a saucepan of about 2-2.5 liters or a large deep skillet
Simultaneously cook the lentils and prepare the vegetable dressing. When the lentils are cooked (soft), season them with vegetables and simmer them together for 5 minutes over low heat so that they exchange juices.
When all vegetables are ready, combine them with lentils and simmer together (for 5 minutes) over low heat.
To enhance the taste, you can add dill and some butter to each plate (unless, of course, you are fasting).
Bon Appetit!
What you need for the dish Mistral's Persian red chipped lentils Add pepper to the lentils. When boiled, it lightens to yellow
Cutting vegetables for dressing red lentils Steaming vegetables for dressing red lentils Very tasty and satisfying!