To my shame, until relatively recently I didn’t know what lentils were.
I knew more about what they weren’t than what they were:
- they weren’t a type of pasta, like orzo
- they weren’t like barley, a cereal grain
- I knew they weren’t like linament, which shares many of the same letters, but is not something you’d want to ingest. Then again, lentils share some letters with the man’s name Lenny, or the Christian season of Lent, or of an “ill-fitting suit.” None of those are like lentils. Not even remotely. I don’t think.
They are legumes.
To my shame, I’m not sure I could define a legume.
I jest (kind of).
I’ve gotten into cooking lentil stews over the course of this past winter, and even briefly this spring on colder days, like recently.
So the stew was pretty straightforward. It’s just the cutting and chopping that take time (carrots, potatoes, celery, etc.).
But I wanted to have something to go on top, like a dollop of sour cream. I also wanted to avoid something with a lot of fat, so I recalled how I used (yogurt-based) raita on some of my Indian food when eating out, which cuts the heat, especially on anything prepared vindaloo style.
I found this recipe for herbed yogurt on Tasting Table. I won’t repeat the recipe here, because I want you to visit their page and get all the goodness there. It was delicious on top of the lentil stew and would probably make a good topper for other things, even baked potatoes or sweet potatoes.
Enjoy the goodness.
Biscuit Aisle 