Mashed potatoes are prepared by almost all housewives, considering it to be a universal side dish, but a similar dish can be made not only from potatoes. Delicious, tender and healthy is mashed lentils. Seasoned with butter and fragrant spices, it is pleasant enough to taste, so that it can be eaten without any additions. An even better idea would be to serve lentil purée as a side dish for meat and fish dishes, with which the beans fit well.
Cooking Features
You can make mashed potatoes from different varieties of lentils. This process is not complicated or very long. Even the beginning hostess will successfully cope with the task if she knows and takes into account several important points when cooking.
- Mashed potatoes are made from different varieties of lentils, but red beans are considered most suitable for this purpose. They boil soft quickly, and to get puree enough to cook for 20-25 minutes without soaking. If the cooking time is increased by 2 times, then the red lentils will not even gently be crushed - it will be sufficiently stirred to obtain a homogeneous mass. If lentil of other varieties is taken as a basis, then it is necessary to boil it 1, 5-2 times longer than usual to get mashed potatoes. For green lentils it is 50-60 minutes, for yellow and orange - 40-50 minutes.
- Usually, it takes 1, 5 glasses of liquid to a glass of beans to cook red lentils, and 2 glasses of liquid to a glass of beans to cook green lentils. However, to produce puree, the product needs to be cooked longer, and water requires about 20-30 percent more. In a glass with a capacity of 0.25 liters is placed about 200 g of lentils.
- Lentils of any kind must be picked and washed before cooking. Sometimes green and brown lentils are soaked for a minimum of 3 hours before mashing. This allows not only to speed up the boiling process of beans, but also to reduce their negative impact on digestion.
- Often vegetables include onions, carrots and others. This allows you to make it more juicy. Delicious and hearty is mashed lentils and vegetables such as pumpkin, potatoes.
- The dish will turn out even more delicious if the vegetables are pre-fry. The introduction of butter or vegetable oil, spices, nuts, dried or fresh herbs will have a positive effect on the organoleptic qualities of the finished dish.
There are several variants of lentil puree, and the technology of cooking this dish is not always the same. In order to avoid mistakes and get the expected result, it is necessary to follow the recommendations accompanying a specific recipe.
Red lentil puree
Composition:
- red lentils - 0, 4 kg;
- water or broth - 0, 7 l;
- salt, black pepper - to taste;
- bay leaf - 1 pc .;
- butter or olive oil - 50-60 g.
Method of preparation:
- Lentil, rinse, pour into a saucepan, cover with clean cool water.
- On medium heat, bring the water to a boil. Reduce the intensity of the flame, add a leaf of laurel, cook for 20 minutes.
- Remove bay leaf, salt and pepper lentils, mix. Continue to cook for 5 minutes.
- Remove the pan from the heat, mash the lentils with a potato masher. Add oil, mix.
Similarly, mashed lentils with potatoes are prepared, but instead of a second cup of lentils, you need to take 2 medium-sized potatoes, peel them and cut them into medium-sized cubes. You can lay the potatoes at the same time with the beans.
Green lentil puree
Composition:
- green lentils - 0, 4 kg;
- water - 1 l;
- olive oil - 40 ml;
- salt, thyme - to taste;
- carrots - 0, 3 kg;
- cheese - 100 g.
Method of preparation:
- Rinse lentils, soak for 3 hours in cool water, rinse again.
- Peel carrots, cut into small cubes.
- Pour oil into a pan with a good non-stick coating. Put carrots in it.
- Put the pan on the stove and fry the carrots for 10 minutes, stirring it with a spatula.
- Wash the lentils, put them to the carrots, mix.
- Fill with clean water. On medium heat bring the contents of the pan to a boil.
- Reduce the intensity of the flame and cook lentils for about 40 minutes until there is no water left in the pan. 10 minutes before cooking, add some salt and add thyme to it.
- Transfer the lentils with carrots to the blender tank and smash them into a mashed potatoes. It will be even more convenient to use an immersion blender.
- Return the mashed potatoes to the pan. Heat, stirring, so that the food does not burn.
- As soon as the contents of the pot begin to boil, remove it from the heat.
- Pour finely grated cheese into a pan with lentil puree, mix.
Allow the mash to cool slightly so that it becomes slightly thicker, after which you can lay it out on plates and invite the household to the table. Food made according to this recipe, it turns out so tasty that it can be served as an independent dish.
Mashed lentils in a multicooker
Composition:
- red lentils - 0.5 kg;
- water or broth - 1 l;
- onions - 0.2 kg;
- garlic - 2 cloves;
- refined vegetable oil - 40 ml;
- tomato paste - 40 ml;
- salt, spices - to taste.
Method of preparation:
- Sort out the lentils, rinse in running water.
- Boil water or broth.
- Free the onions from the husk, cut as small as possible.
- Cut the garlic cloves into small pieces.
- Pour oil into the multicooker bowl.
- Put onion and garlic in butter.
- Turn on the unit by selecting the “Frying” program. If there is no such program in your multicooker, replace it with the “Baking” program.
- Fry the vegetables for 5 minutes, then add the tomato paste and continue cooking the vegetables for another 5 minutes in the same program.
- Add lentils, salt and spices, mix.
- Pour in hot water or broth.
- Change the program to “Quenching”. If your unit has a minimum set of programs, and “Quenching” is not one of them, you can cook in the “Soup” program. Set the timer to 50-60 minutes.
- When the specified time has passed, mix the contents of the multicooker bowl, turning it into a smooth mash.
For a more delicate consistency, mashed potatoes can be put into the blender bowl, crushed, returned to the multicooker container and continue cooking the food in the mode of “Fighting” or “Soup” for another 5-10 minutes.
Lentil puree can serve as a separate dish or side dish. There are several options for its preparation. The choice of recipe depends on the culinary preferences of the culinary specialist, on the equipment available to him and on the lentil variety from which the dish will be prepared.
