Doctor Oz often comments about Lentils and sing their praises as one of the healthy foods that contributes to long Life and genuine Wellness. Most people have no idea what to do with Lentils, so we thought we would provide a few ideas and direct you to a couple of important food combining suggestions which make your Lentil experience wonderful.

You always want to remember that you simply must combine your Lentil dishes with a complimentary protein food type to create a complete profile of amino acids in order for you body to properly utilize them simultaneously. If all of the essential amino acids are not present at the same time in your system, the body experiences deficits in its ability to perform certain bio-chemical functions that require all of them to be made available. Beans, legumes, nuts, seeds, and whole grains all fit into this pattern of food combining magic!

Lentils are most common in India and that’s how I first learned how to cook them in the 1970’s when I lived in Wyoming and attended the University where I met Surrendra Paul Singh Bagga. He had come from India to get his Doctorate in Computer Science; but his Mother wouldn’t allow his to come to our country until he learned to cook or found a wife that would take good care of him. He taught me to cook delicious curries, naan, and dal among other fabulous dishes. Dal is another term for Lentils. It might also be spelled Daal, Dhal, or Dahl in some recipes.

You will find recipes for both red, green, and black Lentils. They often are prepared as a soup or as a side dish in traditional Indian cuisine. I first learned how to make a spicy version of a side dish that incorporated coconut milk, turmeric, cumin, coriander, chilies, mustard seed, tomato, and onion. Wow…that a tummy pleaser, especially when you have lots of basmati rice, garlic naan with nigella seeds, and curried vegetables to go along with this red Lentil dish!

There are countless recipes online that will take you years to experiment with; but realize that you can be creative and find the spice blend that you enjoy by choosing garlic, cumin, ginger, red or green chilies, turmeric, mustard, tamarind, black pepper, coriander, clove, cinnamon, cardamon, lemon or lime, cashews, cream, beans, salt, and ghee, You can even add mango or dates and grated coconut to sweeten the dish. Your imagination and mood have no limit!

Often it’s a good idea to use a little oil to heat with the spices that you choose to release their essential oils and aroma before adding the water and lentils to boil and then simmer until they are perfectly cooked within about half an hour. Then when you add the rest of your ingredients you will simmer the lentils until it all meshes into Lentil Bliss. Some people like to mash their lentils or use a blender to make a smooth soup, but I like the texture of all the ingredients on top of rice. I soak up the juices with my naan, too.

You might recall that I shared a basic recipe for Lentil Loaf which I used to serve in my Natural Foods Restaurant. It’s comparable to a meatloaf, but it is healthier for you. You can make a red marinara sauce, if you want it to resemble meatloaf, but my cashew cream sauce will taste fantastic! I usually combine the Lentil Loaf with a beautiful salad with beans or a bean side dish. I also make a Rice or Barley Ball with sauteed vegetables blended in to add color and flavor with lots of roasted garlic and onion with a balsamic vinegar reduction drizzled over the Ball and chopped parsley or cilantro to make it even healthier and pretty in presentation. If you feel like building a Lentil burger instead of a Loaf; then shape the cooked Lentils into patties and cook in oil until they are golden brown and delicious. I also highly recommend Lentils combined with kombu seaweed, ginger, garlic, tamari, onion, sea salt, and topped with some cream cheese, sour cream, or tofu cream and gomasio.

You can find your Lentils at your local Food Co-op or you can purchase them online at ifancyfood and some of our other affiliate partners. When you visit ifancyfood’s website, go to the link for Beans and Grains to find the Lentils. When you visit Frontier’s website, go to Foods and find the link for Beans, Grains, and Seeds. My final idea is this: Rinse the Lentils before placing them in boiling water.

This entry was posted on Saturday, July 3rd, 2010 at 6:11 pm and is filed under Health. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.