More Lentils

Now that we have a great Lentil/Rice base, we can do so much. Here are a few of my favorites but if you think of it as a blank slate, like ground beef, I bet you could come up with even more ideas.

Lentil Soup:
Cut up some veggies, I usually stick with the basic Mirepoix (don't that sound so much better than carrots, celery and onion?) and sautee in butter or oil. Add two cans worth of broth (chicken, vegetable or beef would all work well) and let it melt. Okay, most of you can skip the melting step but I store my homemade broth in the freezer and I never remember to take it out in time so I have to wait for it melt in the pan then dilute it to normal levels. Then add a few big wooden spoonfuls of your base, more for a more stew like meal, less for a soup. Add more seasonings if desired plus a bay leaf. Everyone knows a soup isn't a soup without a bay leaf although I really do have my doubts as to it's effect. If you have a can of diced tomatoes lying around, you can add that two, if not, well, then don't. Since your beans and rice are already cooked, you just have to wait for it to be warm. Best served with fresh bread and a nice salad. It is a lot easier to convince Craig to eat a meal of beans if I serve it with fresh bread or rolls.

Lentil Gyros:
This is a weird take on this Rachel Ray Recipe for Gyros. I made it with ground beef and liked the flavor but didn't like how long the log took to bake (much longer than her 20 minute estimate if you don't want to eat raw meat). So the next time I just added all the spices to browned ground beef (like I would add seasoning to make taco meat). That worked well but we still had pitas and cucumber sauce the next day but no beef. So then I just used my Lentil Mix. We like it, especially with these homemade pitas. So here is my adjusted recipe:

Several cups of Lentil/Rice Base (or ground beef)
5 oz frozen spinach (~ half package) (Optional - Craig doesn't like this but I do)
1 T grill seasoning (I like this stuff, it's awesome one all things grilled)
1 t cumin
1/2 T Chili powder
1/2 T Coriander
A pinch ground cinnamon
1/2 t Oregano

Heat the L/R base slightly in a skillet on the stove (if using beef instead, brown it). If adding the spinach, cook it in the microwave or another pan according to the package. Add the spices and spinach to the L/R base or beef and cook until warm. You might need to add a few tablespoons of water. The L/R is going to be a bit more mushy and wet than ground beef but that is okay. Eat in pitas with yogurt sauce, cucumbers, tomatoes. People that like feta would probably want to add some of that too but I'm not a big feta fan.

Yogurt sauce:
1/2 c greek yogurt (or drain regular yogurt for an hour to thicken it up if you are cheap like me)
small clove garlic, chopped or pressed
a few tablespoons of grated cucumber (sliced the rest to add directly to the pita)
1 Tablespoon lemon juice
1/2 t cumin

Mix together.

Lentil Tacos:

Do the same thing as above but instead of adding those spices, add a packet of taco seasoning or homemade taco mix. And don't serve with cucumbers and yogurt sauce on pitas. Serve with lettuce, tomatoes, salsa and cheese on tortillas. But I think you get the picture

Lentil Patties:
This one is the hardest to explain. Basically you mix some of the base with some tomato product (I normally do ketchup but you could do tomato paste or tomato sauce) and some breading (Again, I normally do breadcrumbs but you could use crushed crackers too). It's like meatloaf, there are a lot of ways to get to the same thing. There are no amounts, it just how much you need to make a substance that you can mold into patties. If it is too dry and falls apart, add more ketchup. If it is too wet and sticky, add more breading. Then add a bunch of spices and mold into flat little cakes. Similar in size to hamburger patties, you want them thin enough that the middle gets warm before they are done browning but not too thin or they will fall apart.

Pan fry in a bit of oil (I like coconut!) until brown. Flip carefully (the break apart easily but you can just use a spatula and smoosh them back together). Brown the other side. Serve with ketchup.

Now this may seem like a lot of Lentils but when I make the base, I freeze half and make one or two lentil meals that week and save the rest for a few weeks later. Except last September when I started writing this. I wanted to remember how I made everything and take pictures so I did it all in one week. Poor Craig, by the end of the week he was begging for a non-lentil meal. And alas, I have no idea what happened to all those pictures. Next time I make these meals, I will take pictures and come back and add them, especially the patties, it would make a lot more sense with pictures.

And in case you aren't entirely sick of Lentils, here are a few other non Lentil/Rice base recipes for you to try:

Lentil/Rice Casserole - My mom has been making this casserole since I was 7 or 8 years old. I used to despite it but now I quite like it.

Sloppy Lentils - A new crockpot recipe we tried last night. Craig called it a keeper as long as we refered to them as Sloppy Irvs. (Joe is a nice normal guy who likes eat beef but Irv is a hippy weirdo whose wife makes lentils instead)

Spiced Lentils and Rice - I still haven't tried this but Elaine mentioned it and I think the idea of making lentils in a rice cooker is ingenious.