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Thursday, December 30, 2010

Red Lentil Stew

After the over-indulgence of the holidays, I was craving something a bit healthy, fresh, delicious and comforting. Hmmmm...
As I looked 'round the kitchen, I spied a jar of gorgeous red lentils and had my "AH HA!" moment. I began gathering ingredients and working out the details in my mind. Now, I was ready to create. The end result was just what I was after, it hit the spot.

I thought I would share the recipe with you here. Whilst it may appear to have quite a few ingredients, it is a simple recipe and only takes about 20 minutes of active time and then simmers away. I hope you like it.

Red Lentil Stew

Ingredients:
1 1/2 Tablespoons Olive Oil
1 onion, diced
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 lg carrot, diced
1 celery rib, diced
1 red bell pepper, diced
1 tomato, chopped (you can substitute 1 cup of canned diced tomatoes)
1 rounded teaspoon ground cumin
pinch of red pepper flakes
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup dried red lentils
4 cups broth/stock (I used homemade chicken stock but, you can use vegetable if you want to make it vegetarian/vegan)
1/2 cup white wine
2 Tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro (you could substitute parsley if you aren't fond of cilantro)
juice from 1/2 lemon

Preparation:
Heat oil in a 4 -5 quart heavy saucepan over moderately high heat until hot but not smoking, then saute onion, stirring until golden, about 5 minutes. Add garlic, carrots, celery, pepper, tomato, cumin, red pepper flakes, and salt and saute, stirring for about 3 minutes. Add lentils, broth, and wine. Bring to a soft boil then lower heat and let simmer, uncovered, stirring occasionally, until lentils are tender, about 30 minutes. Once the lentils are tender, remove from heat.
Stir in cilantro, lemon juice and season to taste with salt and pepper.

I spooned it over cooked brown rice and served it with whole wheat pita bread. The Engineer liked his with hot chili sauce drizzled on top, while I preferred a dollop of plain low fat yogurt on mine. Yum!

What are you having for dinner?

17 comments:

  1. Yummy, I love Lentil soup but have never had the red ones. Your recipe looks very quick, easy and tasty.

    I just put rib roast bones and left over bits of meat on the stove to simmer and it will end up a hearty beef barley soup..Just the ticket, as the temp. this morning up here was 18 degrees!

    Sister tells me there was a mention of snow Monday for Portland. Keep warm!

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  2. Mmm, I love lentils, and soup sounds so perfect right now. It's cold!

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  3. UmmmmmUMMMMMMM! That looks delicious! I'll have to try it! Thank you for sharing the recipe!

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  4. Oh that sounds delicious, that'll do me for the weekend, thanks for sharing! We still have stacks of leftovers - seems my waistline has no time to recover just yet.

    Thanks for the advice you left me, will brave the shops soon!

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  5. That looks a good recipe. We've just had roasted root veg for supper - as you say, craving 'simple food' after all the richness. Abby

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  6. Yummy! I alway love a good red lentil soup/stew, so thanks for sharing! It's definitely that soup time of year. Happy New Year!

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  7. That looks seriously delicious! Love the photo too, it looks like it's straight out of a food magazine! Yum, thanks xo

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  8. Oh, delicious! and a great NY detox...still eating Christmas cake at the folks...feeling gravity issues :)

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  9. What a bright little colorful meal in this winter gray season! Looks yum.

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  10. Oh yum - now I'm craving peppers! I'll put them on my shopping list...

    Our boys are cooking the New Year's Eve meal tonight, but I've agreed to get the shopping - off I go. Have a wonderful New Year and blessings for 2011.

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  11. Lentils are my favourite food - sad but true! thank you for this, I'll definitely be trying it out :-)
    Thank you for the glorious fabric swap parcel - I am so delighted with it and will be penning you a handwritten thank you over the weekend. You're a star!
    Wishing you a very Happy New Year, dear friend, and may you continue to thrive in all your creative splendour!
    Happy days,
    Denise x

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  12. That's very similar to what I've been eating after craving it! I've been feeding my face non stop with all kinds of things I don't normally eat and while a trat I desperately 'needed' this kind of wholesome but tasty food. I made enough for two days. I need to find something else now!

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  13. Definitely, I'm going to try this recipe. Thanks for sharing it.

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  14. The dish is quite colorful but I have never had a lentil. Is is like a bean?

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  15. Thanks for sharing. Lentils are so good for you and this recipe looks delicious.

    I wish you all the best in 2011!

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  16. gosh i'm being a chatter-box today! hope you don't mind me leaving so many comments but i just had to say this soup recipe is right up my street and as i have most of the ingredients i am going to give it a whirl tomorrow.
    also i LOVE the dolly and quilt in the post below.

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