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Red lentils in a slow cooker

Red Lentils in a Slow Cooker

Healthy, light, fluffy, and appetizing! Red lentils cooked in a slow cooker come out soft and tender, almost like a purée. They're a very nutritious food — in protein content they rival meat. Serve lentils as a side dish or a meal on their own.

BLUE-EYED

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Composition / ingredients

Servings:

Red lentils (about 1 cup / 200 ml)

190

Water

Carrot

Onion

Garlic

Vegetable oil

Salt

Translation table of volumetric measures

Nutrients and energy value of the composition of the recipe

By weight of the composition:

Proteins 21 % 5 g

Fats 25 % 6 g

Carbohydrates 54 % 13 g

131 kcal

GI: 100 / 0 / 0

Cooking method

Cooking time: 30 min

Step 1:

How do you cook red lentils in a slow cooker? Get your ingredients ready. It's best to use neutral-tasting filtered or bottled water. If you use tap water, keep in mind it can give the dish an off, distinctive taste. Use any vegetable oil suitable for frying.
Step 2:

Sort through the lentils, removing any debris and unripe greenish grains. Lentils are much softer than peas, so there's no need to soak them before cooking. I still soaked mine for 10 minutes, and even in that short time they swelled. If you decide to soak them too, soak for no more than 2 hours. Then rinse the lentils well under cool running water. Drain them in a sieve or a colander with small holes.
Step 3:

Wash and peel the onion and carrot. Then cut them however you like — I cut the onion into quarter rings and the carrot into sticks, but you can grate it on a coarse grater; it doesn't matter. Mince the garlic any way that's convenient — with a knife, a grater, or a press.
Step 4:

Pour the vegetable oil into the slow cooker bowl and add the onion and carrot. Select a suitable frying mode — "Fry" or "Bake," depending on your model. Sauté the vegetables, stirring, until translucent, leaving the lid open.
Step 5:

Add the lentils. Spread them evenly over the bottom, mixing them with the vegetables.
Step 6:

Add water in the amount the package recommends — for me, that's two parts water to one part lentils. Either way, the water should completely cover the grains.
Step 7:

After adding the water, close the lid and set the timer to 20 minutes on the "Grains" or "Rice" setting (again, depending on your model). Five minutes before it's done, salt the lentils, add the garlic, and stir well. The finished lentils will be soft and purée-like, very much like split-pea porridge in look and taste.
Step 8:

Serve the lentils hot as a meal on their own or as a side dish, sprinkled with herbs. The options are endless. Enjoy!

Keep in mind that the cooking time and setting in this recipe are approximate. All slow cookers work differently, and even identical models from the same manufacturer can have their quirks. Before making a new dish in your slow cooker, read its manual carefully, then practice with dishes you already know before trying new ones, adjusting the setting and time to suit your own appliance.
Use an oil with a high smoke point for frying! Every oil is good only up to a certain temperature — its smoke point, beyond which it begins to burn and form toxic compounds, including carcinogens. Unrefined oils, with rare exceptions, have a low smoke point; they contain lots of unfiltered organic particles that quickly start to burn. Refined oils stand up to heat better and have a higher smoke point. If you're going to cook in the oven, in a skillet, or on the grill, make sure you use an oil with a high smoke point. The most common high-smoke-point oils are refined sunflower, olive, and grapeseed oil.
Keep in mind that how you cut the carrot affects the final result: grated carrot will break down into a mush as it cooks and blend evenly with the rest, while carrot cut into matchsticks or sticks will keep its shape.