Are you fed up eating only pastas and rice? There is so many different cereals and leguminous plants that are just as nourishing, delicious and easy to cook than those fast-cuisine basics. Here’s for example a very simple and tasty recipe using split red lentils. In addition to the previously described qualities, it has the big advantage to be very fast to cook, needing only 10 to 15 minutes, when you sometimes have to wait 30 minutes to one hour to cook spelt or green lentils. In a word, this is a great recipe to add some variety to your meals without any constraint!

Cooking time : about 20 minutes

Ingredients (2 persons) :
– 150g split red lentils
– 2 garlic cloves
– 1 to 2 tablespoons crème fraîche
– 1 dash lemon
– 1 teaspoon sweet paprika 
– 1 teaspoon cumin 
– 1teaspoon turmeric
– some salt
– some pepper

Put about one liter of water in a saucepan and let it heat up. During that time, peel and mince the garlic cloves, taking out the sprout if it started germinating. Clean the lentils in a skimmer. Once the water is boiling, throw in the garlic and the lentils. Let it cook for 10 minutes and taste the lentils. If you like its texture, follow on, otherwise if you’d rather have them meltingly soft, let them cook for 5 more minutes.

Drain the water and let the garlic and the lentils in the saucepan. Add the crème fraîche, lemon and spices, and let it over an open fire for 5 minutes, so that the cream boils and reduces, while stirring from times to times. Once it is not liquid anymore, it is ready. Adjust the salt if needed, and add some pepper. You can enjoy it with a red meat and some salad.

Also published on Medium.

This post is also available in: French