Lentil Recipe

it's hard for me to recall what I did before I discovered the wonder of lentils. they have become a staple in my vegetarian diet for multiple reasons-they are cheap, filling, and can be cooked in a variety of ways.

those of you who are familiar with lentils know that the trick to cooking a successful lentil dish is to soak them before cooking them. Most people recommend soaking lentils for 24 hours before cooking them. Kudos to those of you who have that sort of foresight. I am usually lucky if I can soak them an hour and a half or so before cooking them, though it does make a difference. Luckily, I remembered that I was planning on making lentils for dinner this morning before I left for yoga class, so I managed to start soaking them at around 8:30 this morning. This meant that the cooking time was reduced from the normal 30 plus minutes to about five minutes.

unfortunately, I did not realize that I was out of naan. yes, I could've made a quick run to whole foods to grab some, but I decided that I'd rather just stick some instant rice in the microwave. of course, this turned into the jar of homemade hot cocoa mix i had sitting on top of the microwave falling over and creating a huge mess in my kitchen area. I really need a bigger cooking area.

here is the recipe:

Easy Masoor Daal (aka red lentils)

ingredients:
1 cup red lentils
1 1-inch slice of ginger, peeled and chopped
1/4 tsp ground turmeric
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
4 tsp vegetable oil
4 tsp dried minced onion
1 tsp cumin seeds

directions:

1. Rinse lentils thoroughly and place in a medium saucepan along with ginger, turmeric, salt and cayenne pepper. Cover with about 1 inch of water and bring to a boil. Skim off any foam that forms on top of the lentils. Reduce heat and simmer, stirring occasionally, until beans are tender and soupy.
2. Meanwhile, in a microwave safe dish combine oil, dried onion and cumin seeds. Microwave on high for 45 seconds to 1 minute; be sure to brown, but not burn, onions. Stir into lentil mixture

serves 4

the main reason why I chose to make this recipe for dinner tonight was because of my schedule. Some of you know that on sundays I drive down to Gennesee to volunteer at a therapeutic riding facility. Because the facility is a good 50 minute drive each way and I help out with the pm feed, I often don't get home until somewhere between 6:30 and 7:00. I like to be in bed by 10 because I get up at 6 to go to work the next day. This means I have roughly three hours to shower the horse smell off of me, eat dinner, and prepare my lunch/coffee for the next day. this is further complicated by the fact that my school's monthly school governance council meeting is tomorrow, which means I won't get home until 7 pm. obviously, i wanted to make a dinner that was simple and could provide leftovers that were easy to reheat. that's exactly what this dish is.