Jars and jars of LENTILS! What can I do with them?!

megasaver

I love the cheese and lentiil bake that is on this veggiie web site here and it has become a firm favourite in our household. It says to use red lentils but I am sure green ones would be just as good. Love this recipe because it is sooooo quick easy and I love the web site as it has sooooo many wonderful veggie recipes! And no I do not work for them :rotfl:

Mega xx

Gingham_Ribbon

Xenomorhic wrote:

Thank you Gingham, that looks really useful.. um, just to check, they're green and brown. Do I soak them first?
I've got a mixed bag of what looks like that white, red ones and peas, that I bought as a soup mix. What do I do with that?

You're welcome.

Right then. Lentils don't need to be soaked, but it doesn't harm to if you want to and probably cuts down on the cooking time.

The mixed bag. I would soak it over night, add some barley and make broth. The recipe is on the thread I linked to. But basically, throw in some grated carrot, a chopped leek and some vegetable stock and simmer for about an hour and a half. A big dollop of brown sauce makes it really flavoursome too.

Queenie

Gingham_Ribbon wrote:

... The mixed bag. I would soak it over night, add some barley and make broth.

If it looks like this: ...

then I'd hate to condradict ( ) but, those mixed bags are called "broth/soup mix" and don't actually *need* presoaking - just so long as you skim off any scum which MAY rise to the surface when cooking, it should be ok.

I've thrown it into fresh stock with a few herbs and in less than an hour had the most divine thick soup! (Wishing I had a packet in the cupboard to refer to so I could be more "exact" ) But, I can truthfully state, it doesn't take much cooking at all and there really is no need to soak!

Gingham_Ribbon

Queenie wrote:

If it looks like this: ...

then I'd hate to condradict ( ) but, those mixed bags are called "broth/soup mix" and don't actually *need* presoaking - just so long as you skim off any scum which MAY rise to the surface when cooking, it should be ok.

I've thrown it into fresh stock with a few herbs and in less than an hour had the most divine thick soup! (Wishing I had a packet in the cupboard to refer to so I could be more "exact" ) But, I can truthfully state, it doesn't take much cooking at all and there really is no need to soak!

If it's got dried peas in, then I'm surprised soaking isn't necessary. I use broth mix a lot and even soaked overnight, the peas take about an hour and a half to cook through. I expect if there are no dried peas then there would be no reason to soak it.

Queenie

GR - I may well have to eat my words on this one ... in Waitrose today, I saw a bag of "bean" mix ... which has kidney beans in it, otherwise is similar to above, but not *exact* (who knew? :confuse: ) ... feeling somewhat foolish, I took the time to look at the instructions; yes, you are right, if it is BEAN MIX, then it does indeed need overnight soaking If it is SOUP/BROTH mix, then I stand by my previous post :laugh:

Xenomorhic - do check the wording on the 'mix' ... whichever one it may be will alter the way you prep them!!!

*mutters to self "Wow, GR can afford Waitrose! Q being a Tesco-Value-kinda-gal!* :laugh: