Lentil Stew Recipe with Shrimp (2024)

FAQs

What is lentil stew made of? ›

Lentil Stew Ingredients

It has carrots, tomatoes, celery, onion, and zucchini. All those gorgeous vegetables are dressed up with warm, earthy spices, a little garlic and fresh herbs. Plant-based protein: If you haven't gotten on the lentil train now is the time. They are so good and so good for you!

Why red lentils: They cook quickly because they are small and split. They become soft when cooked so they work well for thickening soups and making purees.

If the soup seems too thick add 1 more cup of vegetable stock (or water). Taste test and adjust seasonings as needed. Using an immersion blender or regular blender puree half of the soup (don't skip this part...the texture of smooth/chunky is the best!) Keep the soup on low heat until ready to serve.

You can also add salt, aromatics like a halved onion, herbs, and spices to the pot before the lentils and the water, like beans, or wait until they're done cooking to flavor them.

You'll find that the lentils mostly breakdown and naturally thicken the soup. But what I like to do to get a really luscious creamy texture is to give the soup a quick whizz with a blender stick (or transfer a couple of cups to the blender) to puree SOME but not all the lentils.

To avoid a bland lentil soup, use a flavorful broth—whether that's homemade or store-bought chicken or vegetable broth. The other key is building flavor. To do so, use aromatics like onions and garlic, include fresh or dried herbs, and season well with salt and pepper.

This time, it turned out mushy and there wasn't a whole lentil to be found. Damn it! I figured out later that it spent about 2.5 hours too long in the slow cooker (a little miscalculation on my part). If you're like me and have overcooked Lentil Soup then you're in luck because I'm going to show you how to revive it.

Depends if they are red or green lentils. The red ones can be bunged straight in. I just rinse them and add to the soup, the packet says 30 mins cooking so it should be okay.

Eating half a cup of cooked lentils gives you lots of essential nutrients and their high fiber content makes you feel full. However, the fiber in lentils can be hard for your body to break down. Eating too many lentils can cause gas, bloating, and cramping.

You can add some cornflour mixed in little water and let it boil with your soup till get nice thick consistency. And if you are a health conscious fellow then go for cooked oats. As I do, cook some oats along with lentils and then puree it to make soup. This will not only thicken your soup but add some more health too.

What is the foam on top of lentil soup? ›

That means the foam will typically appear when making meat-based broths and, to a lesser degree, soups made from high-protein vegetables such as chickpeas and lentils. When those coagulated proteins cluster together, they can create air pockets, which is what causes the “sudsy bubbles,” says Trout.

Lentils are edible seeds from the legume family. They're well known for their lens shape and sold with or without their outer husks intact. Though they're a common food staple in countries such as Turkey, Syria, Jordan, Morocco, and Tunisia, the greatest production of lentils nowadays is in Canada ( 1 , 2).

Lentils have plenty of folate, iron and vitamin B1, which also support your heart health. Lentils may be associated with a lower risk of heart disease, by lowering bad cholesterol and blood pressure. One study found that eating lentils led to greater reductions in blood pressure than eating chickpeas, peas or beans.

Beans, peas, and lentils are also excellent sources of dietary fiber and nutrients such as folate and potassium. These nutrients, which are often low in the diet of many Americans, are also found in other vegetables. Therefore, beans, peas, and lentils are also considered part of the vegetable group.

Lentils are the dried seeds of the lentil plant, a legume. Unlike beans, which are also legumes, lentils are never eaten fresh but always dried right after ripening.