Saturday, November 2, 2013

Spiced Black Lentils with Yogurt & Mint

Ugly food.
But crazy, yummy, healthy food too.
I bought these black lentils at Whole Foods recently, as you know, I think the place has ridiculous prices, but you can't argue that they have some cool bulk foods.  I usually pick up some sort of dried legumes that you can't find just anywhere.  I loved the French Green Lentils that I cooked recently, I've been on a kick to find more recipes to try them. 
The black ones were throwing me though... until I saw this recipe in the new Nov 2013 Bon Appetit magazine.

A couple things about the recipe, the yogurt and mint on top may sound weird... but we all agreed it was fantastic and really made the dish.  Try it!  Also, I had a hard time finding coriander seeds, so I used only the cumin seeds and mustard seeds.  Don't buy the full jar of spices, look for the bulk spices (lots of grocery stores have them) and only buy what you need.  I'd actually buy double what you need, because I think you will want to make this again....


Serves about 6
Ingredients

½ teaspoon coriander seeds, crushed
½ teaspoon cumin seeds, crushed
½ teaspoon mustard seeds
2 tablespoons olive oil plus more
1 small onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 cup black beluga lentils
3 cups (or more) low-sodium vegetable broth or chicken broth
1 teaspoon red wine vinegar
Salt, freshly ground black pepper
1 cup plain Greek yogurt
¼ cup fresh mint leaves, thinly sliced

Stir coriander, cumin, mustard seeds, and 2 Tbsp. oil in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat until sizzling, about 1 minute. Add onion and garlic; cook, stirring often, until just softened, about 5 minutes. Add lentils and 3 cups broth; bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer, partially covered, adding broth as needed to keep lentils covered, until lentils are soft, 30–40 minutes.Stir in vinegar; season with salt and pepper.
Transfer lentils to a large bowl and top with yogurt. Season with salt and pepper, drizzle with oil, and top with mint.

NOTE-
I left the lid off the pot for the second half of cooking because I wanted to reduce down the liquid a bit so the lentils wouldn't be too juicy. 

I finally got to use my mortar and pestle to smash up some spices! But you could crush them with something else... hammer and ziploc bag?

 

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