We make lentil stew quite frequently – just simmer lentils with meat, veggies, and seasoning for an hour or two. It’s quite good and hearty.
This time we bought red lentils, on a whim, and cooked them the same way. It turned out differently, but even better, I think – the red lentils sort of pureed themselves, maybe because they’re smaller, and the final dish looked more like Pakistani haleem (a favorite of mine) then a regular lentil stew. It was yellowish rather than red. I was very pleased and we might get red lentils more often.
Any other experiences with different kinds of lentils?
There are lots of different kinds of lentils and they all taste quite different. Here is a list of the main ones with mostly Hindi names and English equivalents where I know them.(Dal is the Hindi word for lentils)
Toor (Arhar) Dal - also called split pigeon peas. Yellow meniscus shaped. Takes the longer to cook than other lentils
Masoor Dal - Pink and tiny. Cooks really quickly. Amongst the highest in protein in dals. Lovely sweetish taste right after cooking. Beware of opening a container of this when cooled - especially if you take it to lunch to the office. Has a farty kind of smell. Still delicious to eat though. Also comes in whole varieties although the split ones are more popular
Urad Dal - Comes in multiple varieties. Its white in color with a black skin that comes after after cooking or soaking. Comes in split or whole varieties. A tad sticky after cooking. Is the main dal in “Dosas” - a thin crispy crepe. If you have not eaten a dosa in yet, get yourself over to a decent Indian restaurant - you will not regret it.
Chana Dal - Holds shape really well after cooking and resists becoming soupy unlike the others. Often confused with Arhar this is thicker and is more curvy on the convex side.
French Puy lentils make a really fantastic lentil salad, especially with walnut oil. I’m nursing along a years-old bottle of Perigordien walnut oil in the refrigerator just to use on the rare occasions when I get fancy salad-quality lentils.
Castellanas (Castillian) are the default in Spain; there have been other varieties cropping up but people tend to get pretty miffed when “they don’t cook right”. For some reason, we are all conscious that there are a lot of kidney-shaped beans and they are useful for different recipes but we expect our chickpeas and lentils to always be the same. These lentils come in a couple of shades of greenish brown, if you see a yellow one that means it’s become shelled accidentally. Another variety called pardina (lit. “light brown”) is less popular but also common. If a pack of lentils says “mixed”, it contains both of the above.