It's the holiday season. And, more than anything in the blustery weather, I make lentils. I know that this might mot be the most common of things! But I associate quinoa with bright, citrus, summery days. And I associate lentils with warm, rich, winter. This means that lentils are a staple in my household. I almost always have a batch in the refrigerator. Today, I've decided to make spinach lentils with an assortment of other produce that I have lying around.
I have the smallest bit of red and green lentils left in the pantry. So, I'm going to combine them together. Although you could easily just do one of them (or any other kind of lentils). I also have some remnants of spinach and a sweet potato to use up. Along with garlic and ginger, which I also tend to always keep on hand. Last, but not least, I brought in some pepper plants. So, I'm using the last of my Carolina reapers still hanging on in the wintery months. Lentils are a great recipe to mix and match to make your own, though. Feel free to add in your own favorite ingredients or what you have on hand!
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Variations of Spinach Lentils
I don't always put spinach in lentils, but I am an aficionado of putting spinach in just about anything. It adds a fun pop of color. Spinach is also comparatively a relatively milder leafy green. You can easily substitute something like kale or mesclun for a more bitter taste that plays up well with ginger, tamari, and rice vinegar. Although, as much as a like a slight bitter taste, I'm less partial to it in lettuce, which can be a little fibrous. Spinach has a much milder flavor profile and tends to go with a wider variety of dishes because of that. Although, either way, it's a fun thing to explore culinary-wise.
These Spinach Lentils consist of sweet potatoes, garlic, ginger, carolina reaper peppers, spinach, green and red lentils, and tomatoes. Along with a spice blend of nutmeg, cumin, coriander, mustard, salt, and pepper. Although lentils are a great recipe to mix and match your own favorite ingredients and seasonings to make your own.
Add all of the ingredients into a rice cooker. I like to start with the larger produce and then add the smaller ingredients. Top with the spices. And then add the lentils and water.This cooks the larger vegetables on the bottom, while dispersing the flavor profiles in the middle. Although with some mixing, this really doesn't matter all that much. Everything will eventually cook together!
Press the cook button on the rice cooker. While lentils aren't rice, it does cook the same and oftentimes better than rice in a rice cooker. It typically takes 30-45 minutes.Alternatively you can simmer on the stove. Add all of the ingredients to a pot, bring uncovered to a boil, lower heat to a simmer, and cook for about 15 minutes, or until tender. Stir occasionally and test often. Turn off heat, add lid, and let sit another 5-10 minutes.
When the lentils are fully cooked, fluff with a wooden spoon and serve. Do not use a fork or other metal utensil. It will scratch off the nonstick surface on the rice cooker. This will leach teflon into your food and cause future dishes to stick to the bottom!
Tips, Tricks, & Notes
Any lentil, or even other grain or legume (like quinoa or rice) can be used as a substitute in this recipe without changing the ratios.
This Page Contains Edited Images
As a general rule, I don't like to edit my images and I am firmly against alteration of images in food blogs. It's not something that we generally think about when it comes to recipes. But food styling, editing, alteration, and even faking entirely is just as rampant a problem in the recipe realm as anything else! Cooking is a very visual art and you can tell when a lot of foods are cooked based on the color. So, when this is altered and you can't use the coloration as a gauge, it makes it quite difficult to follow some recipes. I have an entire article about Food Styling and Unrealistic Expectations of Recipes.
Because of this, I try very hard not to alter any of my photos. I like to take photos with natural sunlight during the day. Ordinarily this is very true to color and I don't edit the photos at all. However, since my place is very warm with a lot of yellow lighting, sometimes my camera overcompensates and ends up with an unnatural blue tone. In the following images on this page, I adjusted the levels and hue to try and make this more true to color. In the interest of transparency, these are the before and after photos.
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