Savory Lentils from Panama

Submitted by blisstir

"Lentils are a comfort food in Panama, and now one of my favorites. They are healthy and delicious and this is the best recipe I have tried."

 

• Ready In: 1hr 15mins
• Ingredients: 8
• Serves: 6

ingredients

• 1 cup dried lentils
• 1 teaspoon butter or 1 teaspoon oil
• 4 cups water
• 1 red peppers or 1 green pepper, diced (I do a combo)
• 1 small onion, diced
• 3 cloves garlic or 3/4 tablespoon minced garlic
• 2 beef bouillon cubes or 2 chicken bouillon cubes
• salt & pepper

directions

1. Wash lentils thoroughly.
2. Put them in saucepan and cover with water, add butter or oil.
3. Cover and bring to a natural simmer over low heat.
4. *Note-this takes a little while but prevents lentils from breaking.
5. Once at a low boil, you may need to tilt the lid slightly to release steam and prevent overboil.
6. Add onions, peppers, and garlic and continue to simmer for about 45 mins or until lentils are soft.
7. Drain lentils in a strainer with a measuring cup beneath to catch the excess liquid.
8. Pour off all but 1 cup of the liquid (keeping the last cup gives the best texture) and return to the pan with boullion cubes, until dissolved.
9. Return lentils to pan and cook 15 mins more, adding salt& pepper.

Reviews

[mamideisabel]

I am from Panama! Since my family doesn't live in Panama or in a large latino community, we rely on GOYA food brand. The spices and seasonings are the closet we can get to authentic latino flavor. For lentils add Goya Adobo seasoning, tomato paste, and/or recaito(green) even sazon paquetes/packets of achiote for color or w/o achiote for no yellow/orange color. I'm telling you, this will remove the bland and add the flavor you want.

 

[Sven Adult]

Very easy to make. Very good flavour. Lentils can be boring and bland, but this simple recipe is so good. Be careful not to add too much salt with the stock cubes as they are salty already. I also tried it with carrots replacing the peppers and it had a similar sweetness. Great as an accompaniment with fish - I had swordfish loins and a small salad garnish. Great!

 

[ladypit]

We thought this was ok, but found it to be a tremendous amount of work. After over an hour the lentils had still not come to a boil so we cranked them up and decided that we didn't care if they split. This had ok flavor, but was sort of bland. We ate it with flat bread.