Lentil experiment (and something with potatoes)

[cjsmith]

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.)

Comments

[sunnydale47.livejournal.com]

I think that sounds delicious -- especially with the carrots and celery added. If it's too wet, just call it soup!

Couscous is a great thing to have around to add to casseroles that turn out to have too much liquid, especially if you want to keep the discrete ingredients rather than blending everything into a thick soup. Just throw some couscous in for the last few minutes of cooking, and they'll sop a lot of the liquid up. Even if you already have barley in it, couscous would work fine -- especially if it's whole wheat couscous.

Lentils are not just Indian -- lentil soup is popular in Jewish cuisine also, and probably a number of others.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Fortunately I'm aiming for soup! :-)

Mmmmm, couscous -- I am eating some of that right now, as it happens. It's great stuff for my style of kitchen experimentation. Put a bunch of whatever-you-feel-like in water, boil, add couscous, voila! :-) (Today: onion, rosemary, Parmesan cheese. Needs salt.)