Red lentils two ways

by The Flamingo

Lentils are a great source of protein and I prefer them to beans, for example. I discovered lentils on a trip to Turkey, where I had my first lentil soup. Then I became more familiar with them during my year spent in Dubai. I can attest that they really taste amazing and they bring a unique richness to the dish. The red lentils are the sweetest from their variety and they cook pretty easily in under 20 minutes. They also get very mushy after cooking, so they thicken the dish naturally.  Here are two of my lentils recipes I cook very often for my family, they are adapted after our taste, so they are not standard.

Red lentils soup 

• red lentils about 300g
• 1 red bell pepper
• 1 carrot
• 1 big white onion
• 1 ripe tomato or a spoon of tomato paste
• 1 clove garlic
• 1 spoon sweet paprika powder
• the juice of a half or a full lemon (according to your own taste)
• a pinch of spicy paprika powder or chili flakes
• salt after your own taste
• olive oil
• parsley

Wash your lentils in a sieve. Put water in a big pot and bring it to a boil. Wash and cut your vegetables. Add the lentils, the carrot, bell pepper, onion and tomato to the boiling water and leave them for 20 minutes. If you used the tomato paste instead of the tomato, add it after 15 minutes of boiling. Add the paprika powder and salt to the composition. Remove the pot from the stove and wait a little till it cools down. Take a blender stick and blend the soup until it’s nice and creamy. Drizzle olive oil and add the juice of a lemon (or half of it), some minced parsley and mix everything into the creamy soup. Serve it along some nice roasted pita bread. You can also add some sour cream to your bowl of lentil soup.   

Red lentils beef stew

• 300g red lentils
• 300g tender beef cut into fine stripes
• one white onion
• one carrot
• one red bell pepper
• one garlic clove
• 2-3 spoons tomato paste
• sweet paprika powder 
• olive oil
• salt, chili flakes
• parsley (optionally)

Wash and clean your vegetables. Put the red lentils into a sieve and wash them. Bring some water into a small pot to a boil for your stew. Cut the onion, carrot and bell pepper into very fine pieces. Mince the garlic clove. Heat a pan on the stove and drizzle it with olive oil. Add the finely chopped onion and stir it ‘til it’s golden. Then add the stripes of beef and mix them with the onion for about 2 minutes. Add the carrot and the bell pepper, stir gently all of them together then add some of the boiling water from your pot, just enough to cover them. Boil them for about 5 minutes then add the red lentils and the rest of the boiling water. The level of water should cover everything but not by much. Mix them all and put a lid over the pan. Everything should cook nicely in 15 minutes time, mix from time to time and add some more boiling water if you find it lacking. The red lentils should be mushy, but taste one to be sure they are correctly boiled. Add 2 to 3 spoons of tomato paste, the minced garlic and some sweet paprika powder. Mix everything and put the lid over the pan for another 5 minutes. Add salt after your own taste, sprinkle some chili flakes for some bite and some minced fresh parsley if you want. The beef and lentils stew should be mushy, it shouldn’t look too beautiful, but I guarantee it will taste amazing. 

I hope you enjoy my red lentil recipes, especially during this time, when hearty and comfort meals are  needed. Bon appétit!

Photos from Flamingo‘s archive.