![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
I don't cook; I apply heat to piles of completely random ingredients with no rhyme or reason behind it at all.
I found some dried lentils in the grocery store, so on a whim I bought some. I washed them & put them in the crock pot along with some dried barley, a big pile of water, and everything I could find that smelled good. Joy of Cooking says simmer for four hours so I figure four hours in the crock pot ought to do it.
I'll be fascinated to see how the water to other stuff ratio turns out. Different sources varied enormously on this. I may have what looks like a pile of veggies for a dinner plate or I may have water with a few things piled at the bottom of it. I'll have to check part way through.
I have a little stick blender for turning it into soup when it's done, but with the barley in there maybe I'll skip that step. Looking at the spices I chose, I probably should have skipped the barley. Oh well.
Stuff:
2.5 cups dried lentils
1/4 cup dried barley
8 cups water
small handful dried minced onion
hefty spoon of curry powder
couple shakes of turmeric
couple shakes of garlic powder
couple shakes of black pepper
tiny pile - maybe a scant 1/4 teaspoon - of ginger
teaspoon or less of salt
Now that I've thought of the stick blender, I want to get out the second crock and do potato-leek. But I'd have to go back to the store for leeks, and it's raining like whoa, and my feet still hurt from the first trip. Au gratin it is. I *will* make something better than and nearly as easy as that $1.29 box of mix... even if it takes me many tries. I am determined. (And potatoes aren't costly.)
I found some dried lentils in the grocery store, so on a whim I bought some. I washed them & put them in the crock pot along with some dried barley, a big pile of water, and everything I could find that smelled good. Joy of Cooking says simmer for four hours so I figure four hours in the crock pot ought to do it.
I'll be fascinated to see how the water to other stuff ratio turns out. Different sources varied enormously on this. I may have what looks like a pile of veggies for a dinner plate or I may have water with a few things piled at the bottom of it. I'll have to check part way through.
I have a little stick blender for turning it into soup when it's done, but with the barley in there maybe I'll skip that step. Looking at the spices I chose, I probably should have skipped the barley. Oh well.
Stuff:
2.5 cups dried lentils
1/4 cup dried barley
8 cups water
small handful dried minced onion
hefty spoon of curry powder
couple shakes of turmeric
couple shakes of garlic powder
couple shakes of black pepper
tiny pile - maybe a scant 1/4 teaspoon - of ginger
teaspoon or less of salt
Now that I've thought of the stick blender, I want to get out the second crock and do potato-leek. But I'd have to go back to the store for leeks, and it's raining like whoa, and my feet still hurt from the first trip. Au gratin it is. I *will* make something better than and nearly as easy as that $1.29 box of mix... even if it takes me many tries. I am determined. (And potatoes aren't costly.)
no subject
So you're starting with entropy, and adding heat to increase the entropy, obeying the 2nd Law of Thermodynamics. ;-)
Not big on lentils, myself, but the base looks good - like it might work as a soup stock for a number of things.
no subject
I am verrrry big on lentils... when I won't have other people near me. (The bit about one's body "getting used to it" is hooey.)
no subject
I am verrrry big on lentils... when I won't have other people near me.
I should consider the same with broccoli. :-)
no subject
no subject
I was seriously wondering there... *giggle*
A suggestion
First, put the dried lentils in water, and boil for 10 minutes. Then pour off all the water through a strainer, and rinse the lentils really well in cold water. Rinse out the pot, too, and then start over with fresh water. Now you can cook it to its completion. Most of the gas-producing chemicals will have been washed away. Works for me, anyway!
Re: A suggestion
Re: A suggestion
The chemist says: the stink-o-genic chemicals are called lectins. They are strange sugar molecules that somehow turn into gassy gas when in the human digestion. A person will get more able to digest them over time, but there's a limit to how much better one will get. I bet there are some bacteria that one needs for good lentil digestion, and without those bacteria, it's just going to be gassy as all heck.
Unless you do as suggested above... I use that every time I cook lentils and it WORKS. It works like whoa, but you must rinse carefully and remove the weird foamy stuff that will come up in that first boil. That stuff is mostly lectins, which are released into the water so you can get rid of them.