One evening my husband and I were discussing that night’s dinner plans. Of course, I knew what we were having for dinner, since I had planned the week’s meals out. The Omnivore asked what was on the docket and I replied “lentils and rice.”
Enter whine. It went something like this: “I don’t like lentils and rice. We live on a farm now and I work hard. During the time we lived apart I fed myself so well. I want something like meat for dinner. I hate lentils.” 
Wow. Moving back in together is going to take quite a dietary adjustment, I see.
I was feeling particularly generous so I said, “Ok. How about some sausage and pasta.”
He felt triumphant.
I found a frozen tube of Jimmy Dean sage flavored sausage in the freezer and threw it in the sink to thaw. Meanwhile, I began chopping the ingredients for my meal. Out came 6 cloves of garlic, an onion, and a handful of parsley.
Suddenly, a little voice from the side of the kitchen squeaked, “Is it too late to have what you’re having? I take that whole meat thing back.”
Yeah. I thought so. Back in the fridge that sausage went and a I quickly doubled the recipe for my red lentils and cous cous so that I could share with the Omnivore. And boy was he happy I was so generous!
PrintRed Lentils with Garlic and Onion
- Total Time: 20 minutes
- Yield: 4 1x
Description
Garlicky lentils over cous cous
Ingredients
for the lentils
- 2 cups (475 mL) uncooked red lentils, rinsed
- 4 cups (950 mL) water
- 1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoons canola oil
- 1 large onion, thinly sliced
- 12 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
for the cous cous
- 1 cup (240 mL) whole wheat cous cous
- 1 cup (240 mL) boiling water
- olive oil
- 4 tablespoons chopped parsley
Instructions
for the lentils
- Put lentils, turmeric and 4 cups water into a medium pot and bring to a boil.
- Reduce heat and simmer until lentils are very soft and pulpy, about 15 minutes.
- Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add onions and garlic and cook until golden brown, taking care not to burn them.
- Add onion mixture to lentils and stir well. Serve hot.
- Boil water for cous cous stovetop.
for the cous cous
- Add cous cous and cover 5 minutes.
- Fluff with fork and add parsley. Combine.
- Prep Time: 5 mins
- Cook Time: 15 mins
Nice job turning a meat lover over to this delightful dish :)
Lovely story and delicious dish.
Great recipe on it’s own! I also made a variant where I doubled the turmeric and added a generous pinch of Garam Masala. I added finely diced green pepper to the onion and garlic mix and added two finely diced Roma tomatos when nearly finished browning. For those who must have meat, a half pound of browned, diced turkey sausage also goes nicely. Personally, i find that the browning brings out subtle, but rich, layers of flavor.
I found this recipe to be very confusing!
Recipe calls for Canola and Olive oils, but instructions say ‘heat oil’, which one? both?
in the ‘for lentils’ area, you mention, ‘boil water for cous cous’, shouldn’t this be in the next section? ‘1’ for cous cous, says ‘add cous cous’…to what? the lentils? When is the olive oil used? it’s not mentioned in the steps. Is the salt used with the boiling water or added after cooking? Really, I was excited to try this recipe, but it needs much clarification. Thanks.
Put lentils, turmeric and 4 cups water into a medium pot and bring to a boil.
Reduce heat and simmer until lentils are very soft and pulpy, about 15 minutes.
Heat CANOLA oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add onions and garlic and cook until golden brown, taking care not to burn them.
Add onion mixture to lentils and stir well.
for the cous cous
Boil water for cous cous stovetop.
Add cous cous to boiling water and cover 5 minutes, removing part from heat.
Fluff with fork and add parsley. Combine with lentils. Drizzle with olive oil, if desired
I saw the rating on this dish was at a 1. I love this dish and would give it a 4. It doesn’t look like much, but if you get the seasoning right – turmeric, onions and garlic, it is yummy. I usually double the recipe so that I have it around for a while and can eat off of it for several days. Pealing the garlic is a bit of a pain – but put all the garlic in a stainless steel pot with the lid on and shake it til the garlic skins come off and viola! the garlic is pealed.
Delicious, and not a difficult recipe to follow. There could be clarification on a couple things, but someone leaving a one star review because they lack critical thinking skills is absurd.
The one star review likely reflects frustration. Think it was unkind. It’s tough to write a procedure that addresses all skill levels.
The recipe is a keeper. I added curry powder to the lentil mixture, used thinned chicken broth instead of straight water and cut the salt in half. To the onion mixture I added some diced tomato and diced red pepper as the cooking was nearing completion.