Lentil porridge is a healthy and unusual dish for every day. Various recipes for lentil porridge for health and joy

Lentils are a unique product, rich in protein, vitamins and amino acids with low calorie content.

It also contains tryptophan, which gives vigor and good mood. All that remains is to cook the lentils deliciously.

Lentil porridge - general principles of preparation

You need to know that you can find four types of lentils on sale. They differ not only in appearance, but also in taste and cooking technology.

Red lentils are hulled (that is, freed from the hard shell) grains; it is perfect for making stew or porridge. It cooks very quickly, 10-15 minutes, and boils down quite heavily. It should be washed thoroughly before cooking.

Green lentils are unripe beans. It is also enough to rinse it, but it will take at least half an hour to cook.

Black lentils, which have a pleasant smell, are an excellent option for porridge; there is no need to soak them, and they will be ready in 20-25 minutes.

Brown requires soaking, like beans, for at least 12 hours in cold water. After this, it will cook for about 30-40 minutes. The main purpose is soups.

de Puy lentils are also available for sale . It is very tasty and does not take long to prepare, suitable for any dish, and does not require soaking. The main disadvantage is the high price.

In general, any type of lentil porridge is suitable for making porridge, but red, green or black are usually used.

Any of them must be thoroughly washed in two waters, lightly rubbing with your fingers. It should be poured into boiling water; during the cooking process it is usually necessary to remove the foam a couple of times.

You can add a variety of foods to lentil porridge; this grain is quite friendly and goes with almost everything. But still, don’t get carried away: it has its own pleasant taste.

Ready-made lentil porridge can be flavored with butter, vegetable or butter, unless, of course, you are eating this dish for pleasure and not for weight loss: lentil porridge is considered an excellent dietary product.

Recipe 2. Lentil porridge with oyster mushrooms

In this lentil porridge, in addition to oyster mushrooms, you can, of course, add champignons and wild mushrooms, pre-boiled.

Ingredients

Lentils – 1 cup

Oyster mushrooms – 300 g

Garlic – 4 cloves

Any oil

Cooking method

For this lentil porridge, try using black or green lentils. It tastes better if the grains are not too boiled.

Boil the lentils, only then add salt.

Wash the oyster mushrooms, leave the small ones whole, chop the larger ones. If you took champignons, it is better to cut them into slices. Fry mushrooms with butter in a frying pan.

Finely chop the garlic with a knife, add to the mushrooms and fry everything together while stirring for about a minute.

Divide the lentil porridge into bowls and place a mound of mushrooms and garlic in the center.

Recipe for lentil porridge with mushrooms

Porridge made from such cereals can be supplemented with various ingredients, for example, mushrooms. This will make it even more satisfying. What you need here:

This dish will take about 40 minutes to prepare. The calorie content of 100 grams of such porridge will be 162 kcal.

1. Rinse the lentils under running water;

   

2. Pour water into the pan, pour the cereal into it, put it on medium heat, as soon as the water boils, turn down the heat;

   

3. Remove the formed foam from the surface of the water, let the porridge boil for another 30 minutes;

   

4. In the meantime, you can do the rest of the products: wash the mushrooms and cut into cubes, also finely chop the onion, grate the carrots on a coarse grater, pass the garlic through a press;

   

5. Place a frying pan on the adjacent burner, pour a little vegetable oil into it, and heat it up;
6. Place the onion in a heated frying pan and fry it for about 3 minutes;
7. Then add carrots to the onions, mix the vegetables well and fry for another 3 minutes until golden brown;

   

8. Then you can add mushrooms to the almost finished vegetables and fry them first until liquid forms, and then until this very liquid evaporates;
9. Place the finished lentils in a colander and allow excess water to drain;
10. Pour the porridge into a frying pan with vegetables, add chopped garlic, salt, pepper, finely chopped herbs, mix all ingredients and cover with a lid;
11. Remove the pan from the heat, let the porridge brew for 5 minutes, after which it can be served.

    

Recipe 3. “Lenten” lentil porridge

This lentil porridge is prepared without oil; if desired, it can be added to the finished dish.

Ingredients

Any lentils – 1 cup

Garlic – 4 cloves

Tomato paste – 1 tablespoon

Greens (dill, parsley, celery, mint, green onions - to your taste) - a large bunch

For this dish, it is better to use red lentils, but you can use any other one.

Cooking method

Boil the lentils, a minute before they are ready, add salt, tomato and garlic, passed through a press.

Sprinkle the finished lentil porridge generously with chopped herbs.

If desired, you can add cumin, sesame seeds, and chopped nuts to this dish.

A simple and delicious red lentil porridge recipe

There are five different types of lentils - green, yellow, brown, red and black - and each of them is good in its own way. It all depends on what kind of dish you need to prepare.

For example, for the simplest lentil porridge you will need:

• 300 ml of drinking water;
• 200 g red lentils;
• a little salt and pepper;
• 25 g butter.

Recipe 4. Lentil porridge in Old Russian style

Ingredients

Lentils – 1 cup

Dry porcini mushrooms – a handful

Half an onion

Any vegetable oil

Cooking method

Rinse dry mushrooms thoroughly and soak overnight. Rinse again with cool water and cook in enough water. During the cooking process, make sure that the mushrooms do not overcook or boil away.

When they are ready, fish them out with a slotted spoon and put them in a bowl. Add washed lentils to the broth, diluting it with water if necessary, and cook them in mushroom broth until tender.

Finely chop the onion. If you love onions, then you can not chop them, but cut them into half rings and disassemble them into strips.

Chop the boiled mushrooms finely and place them together with the onions in a frying pan with heated oil. Add a couple of tablespoons of mushroom broth and simmer for 2-3 minutes.

When the lentils are cooked, quickly stir in the mushrooms and onions, cover with a lid and wrap the pan in a towel to simmer the lentil porridge.

How to cook green lentil porridge?

Red lentil porridge: recipe

Compound:

• 2 tbsp. red lentils;
• 3 tbsp. water;
• 2 tsp. curry;
• sunflower oil;
• 1 tsp. cinnamon;
• 3 handfuls of raisins;
• 2 tbsp. l. cognac;
• 1 large onion;
• 3 carrots;
• salt and pepper.

Preparation:

1. Cut the carrots: first divide into four parts and then chop. The onion needs to be cut into small cubes.
2. Pour cognac over raisins and 4 tbsp. l. water, then leave to steep.
3. Pour some oil into a frying pan and fry the carrots and onions.
4. Now you need to rinse the lentils, pour them into a frying pan, add curry with cinnamon, and fill everything with water.
5. Drain the raisins and add them to the pan.
6. When the mixture comes to a boil, reduce the heat and cook until the lentils are soft. This takes about a quarter of an hour, but if after the time the lentils turn out to be too hard, you should add ½ tbsp. water and cook the porridge some more.
7. Add pepper and salt.

Recipe 6. Lentil porridge with meat

For this dish, it is better to choose green lentils, or even brown ones.

Ingredients

Meat (pork, or you can even take veal heart) – 0.5 kg

Lentils – 1 cup

Garlic – 5-6 cloves

Greens - to taste

Tomato sauce of the “Krasnodar” type - optional and to taste.

Cooking method

Rinse the meat, remove films, cut into goulash or smaller and boil in a small amount of water.

Strain the broth and cook the lentils in it. 3 minutes before readiness, add meat and garlic cut into thin slices into the porridge.

When serving, add butter and sprinkle with herbs.

Recipe for red lentil porridge with meat

A dish from this culture can be supplemented with meat, for example, chicken. You will also need the following products:

To prepare such a dish, you will need 1 hour maximum. Calorie content per 100 grams will be approximately 90 kcal.

How to cook porridge:

1. Cut the chicken fillet into small pieces;
2. Rinse the cereal in a colander, peel the vegetables;
3. Cut the onion into small cubes;
4. Grate the carrots on a coarse grater;
5. Pour water over the lentils and put on fire;
6. Meanwhile, take a deep frying pan (or one that has high sides), put it on the fire, pour in oil;
7. Fry the chicken until half cooked, then add onions and carrots and fry for another 15 minutes;
8. Salt and pepper the mixture of vegetables and meat, season it and pour in the prepared broth, cover the frying pan with a lid, let the food simmer a little;
9. In the meantime, you can remove the cereal from the heat and drain the water;
10. Place the porridge in a frying pan, mix all the ingredients, simmer for about 5 minutes, then place in a dish and serve.

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Recipe 8. Lentil porridge with dried apricots and raisins

For lentil porridge with dried apricots and raisins, only red lentils are suitable: they are the most tender.

Ingredients

Lentils – 1 cup

Raisins – half a glass

Dried apricots – half a cup already chopped

Any nuts – a good handful

Cooking method

Rinse dried fruits thoroughly and, if necessary, soak in cold water.

Cut dried apricots into small pieces.

Dry the nuts in the oven, microwave or in a dry frying pan and remove the film. Chop.

Place dried fruits in cold water, bring to a boil, add lentils and cook until tender.

If you don’t want to see half-cooked lentil grains on your plate, first boil the dried fruits, then cook the lentils using the strained broth and puree them with a blender. Add dried fruits to the puree.

If you prefer sweetish porridge, add a spoonful of sugar when cooking.

When serving, add butter and decorate the lentil porridge with nuts, sprinkling them on top.

Sweet green lentil porridge

From such a legume you can prepare not only a regular dish, but also a delicious dessert by adding sweet fruits to it:

This dessert takes about 1 hour to prepare. The calorie content of 100 grams is about 170 kcal.

Step-by-step recipe for preparing the dish:

1. Rinse lentil cereals under running cold water;
2. Pour it into a saucepan, add water and put on fire (green lentils should be cooked for at least 40 minutes);
3. Stirring the porridge periodically, add cinnamon to it;
4. Grind the bananas until smooth;
5. Soak dried apricots and raisins in boiling water for 10 minutes;
6. Add banana to almost finished porridge. Mix;
7. Chop the dried apricots, add them to the pan along with the raisins, mix everything again;
8. The porridge is ready and you can serve it to us.

Recipe 11. Lentil porridge with buckwheat

If desired, you can prepare porridge from lentils and rice or bulgur. Rice or bulgur can be combined with any variety, but with buckwheat it is better to mix black or green.

Ingredients

Lentils – 0.5 cups

Buckwheat – 0.5 cups

Garlic – 3-4 cloves

Spicy herbs to taste: sage, rosemary; Some people like to add a little cumin to this porridge.

If desired, you can add some finely chopped champignons to the dish.

Cooking method

Rinse lentils and buckwheat.

Pour the cereal into a pan of boiling water and cook over low heat with the lid on. You may have to remove the foam a couple of times. A minute before readiness, add garlic squeezed through a press and herbs, if they are fresh, to the dish. Dried ones should be added earlier: about five minutes before the end of cooking.

If you decide to add champignons, you can cook them immediately along with the cereals. Or you can lightly fry it in butter, and only then put it in the finished porridge.

Lentil porridge with apples and cinnamon

You will need:

• 100 g dried red lentils
• 200 ml water
• 1 apple
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1-2 teaspoons sweetener or brown sugar

Pour water and lentils into a saucepan and bring to a boil. Cut the apple into pieces, some large, some small, or all the same size. Once the lentils are simmering, dump most of the chopped apple (save about 1/4 of it for later) into the pan and sprinkle with cinnamon.

Stir, reduce heat to low and simmer until lentils are tender (about 10 minutes), once they are cooked taste and decide if you need sweetener. Transfer the lentils to a bowl, throw in the remaining apple pieces, and sprinkle with cinnamon. Bon appetit.

Recipe 12. Lentil porridge with cracklings

This porridge can be prepared from any type of lentil, it doesn’t matter.

Ingredients

Lentils – glass

Pork lard – about 200 g

Garlic – 3-4 cloves

Onion optional

Cooking method

Let the lentils cook, after washing them thoroughly.

Meanwhile, prepare the cracklings. To do this, cut the lard into thin slices and start melting in a frying pan. Be careful not to burn the cracklings. At first they seem to take a long time to cook, but at some point they begin to fry very quickly. Immediately remove the cooked cracklings with a slotted spoon. Taking the pan off the heat is not enough: the oil cools slowly, and its temperature is high, so the cracklings will have time to burn.

Drain off most of the rendered fat; it can then be used in other dishes.

Fry the chopped garlic in the remaining fat.

Pour the fat and garlic into the cooked lentil porridge and add the cracklings.

Lentil porridge - tricks and useful tips

• The green and black ones retain the shape of the grains well, while the red one gets overcooked. If half-collapsed grains irritate you, puree the dish with a blender and you will end up with a messy porridge.
• Unlike peas, which love onions, lentils prefer garlic, and it is always added to dishes made from it. If you don’t like garlic, try replacing it with the same onion and curry, the taste will be different, but also pleasant.
• When cooking until the very end, do not add salt to the dish. You can even add a teaspoon of sugar, like with beans.
• To quickly chop garlic or walnuts, you must first crush it by pressing flat on it with a knife.

Useful links:

Lentil milk porridge

It is very easy to cook lentil porridge with milk. It can easily be classified as a “simple and tasty” recipe.

For one of the most interesting options you will need:

• 1 full glass of lentils;
• 2 apples;
• 50 – 55 g liquid honey;
• 0.5 liters of whole milk;
• 6 dried apricots;
• 1 tablespoon of crushed flax seeds;
• ½ cup shelled walnuts.