Widowed lentils, a spoon stew that is simple to make and delicious. It is known by this name because it does not contain any meat, only vegetables and, in some cases, potatoes. For this reason, we can also say that it is a very healthy vegetable dish, since it does not contain any fat. When cooking this lentil dish we can choose the vegetables that we like the most. Of course, to enhance the flavor we recommend preparing a sauce and adding it to the stew, this is, in fact, how our grandmothers used to do it.
If you like the idea of learning how to prepare this dish that is so low in fat and calories, but highly nutritious and tasty, stay and discovers how to make widow lentils. Remember that, if you want, you can add potatoes to cook with the lentils.
Ingredients to make Widow Lentils:
- 350 grams of lentils
- 1 onion
- 1 piece of green or red bell pepper
- 2 carrots
- 2 cloves of garlic
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 tablespoon sweet paprika
- 3 tablespoons of crushed tomato
- 1 splash of oil
- 1 pinch of salt
How to make Widow Lentils:
1.Wash the lentils well in case they have some stones or some bad lentil. Drain and reserve.
Tip: To make widow lentils faster you can use cooked lentils from a jar.
2.Prepare the vegetables. To do this, cut the carrots into slices (previously peeled), peel the garlic and leave them whole, cut the pepper into 2-3 pieces and cut the onion in half. Reserve a part of the onion and crush the tomato.
3.Put the lentils in a saucepan, half an onion, the bay leaves, the garlic and the pepper. Once this is done, cover everything with cold water so that the lentils pass about two fingers, as seen in the photo. Heat the pan over high heat and, when it starts to boil, lower the heat to medium and let it cook.
4.While the lentils are cooking, prepare the soffit. To do it, chop the half onion that you had reserved and poach it in a pan with a little hot oil. When you see that it is transparent, add the crushed tomato and let it cook for 4-5 minutes. Add the tablespoon of sweet paprika, remove the pan from the heat and stir everything. This sauce can be put in a bowl together with the onion that you have added to the lentils, some carrots and the pepper and mash it all before adding it to the lentils, so that the pieces of vegetables are not noticeable. In addition, this gives a lot of flavor to the stew and incorporates all the vegetables.
5.Add a little water to the sauce and stir well. Taste the lentils and if you see that they are almost ready, add the soffit, mix and let the widowed lentils finish cooking and take on the flavors of the soffit.
6.Salt test, rectify and done. The total cooking time can vary depending on the lentil, we have had them for 45 minutes in a conventional pot, but sometimes they need a little more. It is best to keep tasting until the lentil is tender. Likewise, you can make the widowed lentils in a quick pot, keeping in mind that the approximate time is 20 minutes. Serve the widow lentil recipe and enjoy this dish hot.
Widowed Lentils – Calories and toppings
The calories of widowed lentils vary depending on the amount of oil used in the sauce, as well as the total number of vegetables used. However, approximately we can say that 100 grams contain around 190-200 calories, taking into account the elaboration of the soffit.
To continue in line with a healthy diet, we recommend accompanying the widowed lentil stew with homemade whole meal bread, such as flaxseed bread, and preparing some type of grilled protein as a second course, but low in fat, such as chicken breast la plant, grilled sea bass or a quinoa burger.
