Dressing Up Green Lentils

We eat a lot of green lentils. They are packed full of fiber and nutrients, and they even help lower my blood glucose level when I eat them for breakfast. After a while though, it can become a little boring to eat these gems plain. In his book The 4 Hour Body Tim Ferris recommends that repeating the same meals over and over again is the secret to success on the 4 Hour Body (4HB) slow carb diet.
My problem is that after seven months of it I do crave some variety. Better to design a new 4HB compliant dish than to risk slipping off the diet, so I have experimented with a little more flavorful lentil dish.

We go through a lot of lentils because there are three of us following the 4HB, so we make most things in large batches. Lucas Starbuck wrote a great blog post on How to Save 4 Hours in the Kitchen Every Week on the Four Hour Body Couple Blog to help in this area.

For this dish you can adjust the quantities, just keep the same proportions. I also change up the flavors my sometimes adding bacon, sausage, or another meat. This is optional, and the dish stands up well as a vegetarian dish with no meat.

Step One: Prepare the lentils – can be done any time

• Heat a 900 ml (32 oz) container of soup stock to a boil. While the stock is heating sort through 600 ml (21 oz) of lentils to pull out any stems, rocks, or damaged lentils. Rinse the lentils well in a sieve or fine colander. When the stock comes to a boil add the lentils and stir well. Simmer for 45 minutes stirring occasionally.

While the lentils are simmering dice a medium onion and prepare some garlic for the dish.

Step Two: Making the dish:

• Pour a liberal amount of grape seed oil into the sauce pan. Heat to med-high.
• Add 2 tbsp of chili powder and cumin and toast (careful not to burn) the spices for about 30 seconds.
• Toss in your garlic and mix it all together.
• Add the onion and saute while mixing all of the ingredient together. When this step is complete you will have this beautiful browny-red blend of onions and spices ready for the meat (if desired) and lentils.
• Add the meat and cook it necessary. Mix everything all together.
• Add the cooked lentils and a small can of tomato sauce. Mix everything together well, reduce heat to simmer. Cover and let all of the flavors blend together.
• Try this dish, or your own variation for a nice change up on the bare bones lentil dish.