Snagged this great recipe for Mexican Style Beluga Lentils from The Witchy Kitchen (great recipes on this blog by the way). The only change I made was that I added double the paprika because it was the last bit in the little can so I just dumped out the whole thing. Oh yeah, and I didn’t add onion powder because I didn’t have any. I used Tapatio for the hot sauce.
1 Cup Beluga Lentils (Rinsed)
3 3/4-4 Cups Water
1 Tsp. Red Wine Vinegar
1 Vegetable Bouillon
1 Bay Leaf
1 Tsp. Cumin
3/4 Tsp. Paprika
1/8 Tsp. Onion Powder
1/8 Tsp. Garlic Powder
Black Pepper and Hot Sauce to taste*
Place water, lentils, bay leaf, and bouillon in a sauté pan and bring to a boil. Stir. Allow to boil hard for about 45 seconds to a minute. Turn the heat down to where it will keep the lentils at a low simmer and place a lid on the pan at an angle, so that steam can escape. Allow to simmer on low heat, stirring intermittently, for about 20-25 minutes.* Once the lentils start to look plump and done, add the vinegar, dry spices, pepper, and hot sauce. Mix and remove from the heat.
* I couldn’t get this part right so there ended up being a lot of liquid left once the lentils were cooked. What I did to fix this was drain the lentils into a bowl to collect the cooking liquid. I added a little bit of the liquid at the end to loosen everything up and to make sure the spices were mixed in well.
The corn salsa is my “recipe.” It has no heat because I didn’t have any peppers to add but it became friends with the lentils straight away and they’ve been inseparable ever since. It was an un-recipe really because I was cleaning out the fridge and was using up stuff I had in the freezer and what not. So here it is:
1 bag of frozen corn
1 small onion (or half a large one) chopped to the same size as the corn
I huge handful of cilantro* chopped
1 tsp cumin
The juice of one lime (or 2 key limes)
Salt & Pepper to taste
*I usually take the stems of the cilantro leaves and then chop it until I have about a handful of just the chopped leaves. Sure it’s more work but who wants to eat stems?
**If the pepper fairy were to visit me and I had peppers to add, I would chop and add a poblano pepper
Add all the ingredients, stir until well mixed, taste it and see what else you want to add. Maybe more cilantro? Maybe more salt? You decide. Keep tasting and don’t worry I won’t tell anyone you used the same spoon over and over.
Overall thoughts: I really liked the lentil recipe and mos def am making them again. Have to admit I was pretty impressed with my corn un-recipe, too. Deconstructed looks prettier but I ended up mixing everything up in the end anyway.
The Love Language of Food 