Tiny, Shiny, Black Lentils
 

I would like some recipes for those beautiful, tiny, shiny, black lentils. I don't know what their official name is. I'm guessing that there are some great Indian recipes out there using this ingredient. Anybody know about them?

~ C

Are these also known as Beluga lentils? I have cooked them, usually the same way as I do Puy lentils.

Yes! I think that the name for them! How do you do Puy lentils?

~ C

No recipe ...
... but I do remember a most delicious salad mixture of the beans, rice, corn niblets, sliced cherry tomatoes, green peas .... and who knows what else! :) The colour contrasts showed so vibrant with the marinade/dressing, making it all even more desirably appetizing.

Could play with any favourite marinade/dressing to make your own new house specialty!
Now I have a hankering to do just that! :)

I generally soak them for an hour or so in cold water, this idea is from ?somewhere. I them rinse them, put into fresh water with a bay leaf or two, and bring to boil and simmer for about 15 minutes or so, less if you wish for a firmer lentil. Meanwhile, I dice an onion, a carrot and, a stick of celery, and fry in a pan with some olive oil, along with a couple of bay leaves, salt and pepper. I let the fry gently for as long as the lentil are cooking. When the lentils are cooked, I strain them and then add the onion mixture, along with a little rocket, or another green leaf, but not much. I may add a splash of good olive oil, and a smaller splash of balsamic.
I prefer doing the lentils this way as opposed to cooking the lentils with the onion mixture, I think the taste is much improved - but that could just be me! I have them with sausages (veggie), or Haloumi cheese etc. Love it.
Apologies for late reply, just logged in now.

Both of those recipes sound wonderful! I'll have to try them. Thanks!

I went ahead and made a soup with some of my lentils. (I still have about a cup left to play with later.) I soaked the lentils overnight, then cooked them until tender and drained. I then pureed up some onion, serrano chile, garlic, cinnamon, cardamom, ginger, cloves, smoked paprika, sea salt, turmeric, corriander and cumin, along with some tomato sauce and about 3/4 of the lentils. I poured the mixture into the cooked lentils and simmered it down until hot and creamy, then added the unpureed lentils for some texture. To serve, I ladled it into a big, flat bowl and drizzled some cashew yogurt over the top. I ate it for breakfast...so good! (For anyone on WW, it's zero points..a big fat 0!)

~ C

That does sound very tasty.