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With commercially grown lentil crops, care must be taken in harvesting the lentil crop. Because the plant is very short (20 to 40 cm tall),� the swather (cutting blades) must be positioned as low to the ground as possible. Once cut, the lentil plants normally are ready to be threshed about one week after cutting. � Types of Lentils� As mentioned above, there are many varieties of lentil grown and eaten throughout the world, but the three most� common types used in cooking are brown,� red and green. �
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� Preparing Lentils for cooking� One advantage of lentils over other legumes is that they do not require soaking. You can soak them for a few hours if you wish and this will reduce the cooking time by about half.� � Before cooking with lentils it is advisable to rinse them in cold water and pick through them for any little stones which may be present.� When cooking lentils by themselves, in preparation for adding to a recipe or as an accompaniment, use 3 times the amount of water to lentils and avoid cooking with anything acidic, such as vinegar, as that retards the cooking process.� It is possible to substitute one type of lentil for another although you may need to adjust the cooking time.� Cookings times for the main three types of lentils are:- � Brown Lentils - 35 minutes Red Lentils - 10-15 minutes Puy (green) Lentils - 20 minutes � Lentils can be frozen but make sure you only partially cook them so that when they are defrosted and added to a recipe they retain some texture. � � � |
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