Lentils - to soak or not?

jackieb

sweetserendipity wrote: »

Oh come on admit it it wasn't just the Dh!! It seems to have that effect on everyone in my family!! I think the only one who doesn't do it after eating lentils (or anything else for that matter) is the Queen, or that's what I was always told anyway!!:rotfl:
Anyway, I never rinse or pre-cook my lentils when I make soup & we have always been fine, apart from the above of course!!:rotfl:

Okay, okay, I admit it. It's all of us. My 12yo daughter did a couple of rippers before she left for school this morning. Just something to linger after she'd gone.

But men are 10x worse!

sweetserendipity

jackieb wrote: »

Okay, okay, I admit it. It's all of us. My 12yo daughter did a couple of rippers before she left for school this morning. Just something to linger after she'd gone.

But men are 10x worse!

LOL I knew it!!:rotfl: And your 12yo sounds just like my 11yo - I thought girls were supposed to be sugar & spice & all things nice?! :rotfl:
I'm afraid I have to disagree with men being 10x worse tho!!:o

mummysaver

Thanks everyone, especially Doom and Gloom! I had a look on the lentil packet in Mr T's and the only warning is not to eat them raw! Cooking instructions just say boil for 10 mins. I looked at the other beans and they actually give a warning saying that they must be presoaked and boiled before use.

Anyway, red lentils, and yellow split peas as well cos I checked those too, are fine just to chuck into stuff and they will cook in the dish.

Did notice that prices have gone up a lot though, are all os-ers out bulk buying lentils and pushing up prices lol!

anonymousie

mummysaver wrote: »

Thanks everyone, especially Doom and Gloom! I had a look on the lentil packet in Mr T's and the only warning is not to eat them raw! Cooking instructions just say boil for 10 mins. I looked at the other beans and they actually give a warning saying that they must be presoaked and boiled before use.

Anyway, red lentils, and yellow split peas as well cos I checked those too, are fine just to chuck into stuff and they will cook in the dish.

Did notice that prices have gone up a lot though, are all os-ers out bulk buying lentils and pushing up prices lol!

Never soak any lentils TBH "skin on" or not.

RE prices -'tis "fashion" I think. Tesco have there "these are very good for you" (or what ever they call them!) shelves and everything is also expensive there:mad: but if you browse further to the "ethnic foods" area the big bags NATCO or EAST END brand for instance are still pretty cheap- work out the cost per 100g and you'll be anazedat the diference...

Cheapest of all is a trip to your asian supermarket to stock up:T

mummysaver

I had a look at the Natco ones in Mr T's as others have said about these being cheaper, but they only had the small bags and they were even more expensive! Not much more luck in our local Asda either! I will have to track down a local Asian supermarket, there must be one around here somewhere! Will also have to pop into the post office and pick up some of the old sweetie jars to store my bulk buys in before I go I think!

Doom_and_Gloom

mummysaver wrote: »

Thanks everyone, especially Doom and Gloom! I had a look on the lentil packet in Mr T's and the only warning is not to eat them raw! Cooking instructions just say boil for 10 mins. I looked at the other beans and they actually give a warning saying that they must be presoaked and boiled before use.

Anyway, red lentils, and yellow split peas as well cos I checked those too, are fine just to chuck into stuff and they will cook in the dish.

Did notice that prices have gone up a lot though, are all os-ers out bulk buying lentils and pushing up prices lol!

You can use lentils raw HOWEVER they have to be sprouted. Sprouted lentils are very nice in a salad and you can use them in stir frys to bulk them out cheaply :T .

Yellow and green split peas can be used without soaking. Soaking usually turns them mushy when cooked so it depends what you want them for if you need them to keep their shape or not.
Acording to my cooking book 'easy vegan cooking' you can pre-soak green and brown lentils (will take about 15min to cook) if you wish to but if you don't they will hold their shape better (if don't pre-soak will take no more than half an hour to cook). Personally I soak green and brown lentils for a few hours anyway as I'm not to keen on the non soaked texture :rotfl: .

If you need any help with other pulses just ask.

By the way I usually buy my lentils from an Asian store. The 3K bags of red lentils cost me just over £3 but I buy loads at a time and haven't needed to buy any in a while. Knowing my luck they are hitting the £3.50+ mark now . Not good when I use them ALOT :rolleyes: .

Mummysaver try Sainsbury's as my local one has the big Natco red lentils that are MUCH cheaper than the usual brands you see. However you probably will have more luck at your Asian store

kalojac

I've never soaked or rinsed my lentils either, but it is just the red ones I use for my soup. HTH

caledoniaquine

Sometimes I rinse them sometimes I don't depends how lazy I'm feeling lol.

And I stick them straight into slow cooker and I've never been ill

happy_chick_3

The reason you would need to soak them, then rinse is to stop the farting! Lentils and legumes are seeds and have a membrane on the outside to stop them being digested when eaten (like tomatoes) and this can react in some people and make you fart!

Soak them for an hour then rinse well and you are less likely to react to them

mioliere

Hi Happy Chick; that was interesting about the reason for soaking and rinsing lentils. I'm glad I do now, my DH doesn't need any further encouragement in the wind area!

I know this is a 'lentils' thread but I noticed that a couple of people have mentioned Natco - my local Co-op has lots of their packets of seasonings and I use them all the time. I think they are great value for money and always bring out the real flavour of food. Just in case they start to take off like the lentils are now, I shall stock up. I noticed the lentils had sold out when I went shopping on Friday so more and more people must be using them nowadays!