Lentejas Guisadas (Colombian Stewed Lentils)
Lentils pressure cooked and then stewed with potato, tomato, scallion and bell pepper until thick enough to eat over rice. Forty minutes, no soaking needed, and it serves four.
Servings: 4
Calories: 335kcal
Ingredients
- ½ pound lentils no soaking needed
- 3 medium potatoes diced
- 1 medium tomato finely chopped
- 1 stalk green onion cebolla larga, finely chopped
- ½ small bell pepper finely chopped
- ½ bouillon cube Ricostilla or Maggi
- Achiote or annatto colouring 'color' in Colombia, to taste
- Salt to taste
Instructions
- Put the lentils in a pressure cooker with enough water to cover them well and cook for 20 minutes over medium heat.
- Drain off the cooking water, leaving a little behind so the lentils stay slightly wet and nothing catches when the other ingredients go in.
- Add salt and the achiote colouring to taste.
- Add the rest: the potatoes, the tomato, the bell pepper and the half bouillon cube. Keep the pot half covered, or carry on in a slow cooker.
- Cook over medium heat for another 20 minutes, or until everything is tender.
- Stir now and then so nothing sticks to the bottom of the pot.
- Serve.
Notes
Lentils do not need soaking, which is what makes this a weekday dish rather than a weekend one. Twenty minutes in a pressure cooker from cold and they are done. Leave a little of the cooking water. The second step is easy to misread as draining them completely, and dry lentils with vegetables on top will catch on the bottom of the pot within minutes. They should look wet when the potatoes go in. Watch it the first time, which is what the recipe's own note says. How much water lentils absorb varies with how old they are, so the amount left after draining is not predictable. Add more if the pot looks dry. What Colombians call color is a powdered achiote or annatto colouring sold in sachets. It gives the stew its reddish gold and adds almost no flavour. Turmeric or sweet paprika does the same. Serve it over white rice, which is how it is eaten in Colombia, and it should be thick enough to sit on the rice rather than run off it.
Nutrition
Calories: 335kcal | Carbohydrates: 65g | Protein: 18g | Fat: 1g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 1mg | Sodium: 716mg | Potassium: 1312mg | Fiber: 21g | Sugar: 4g | Vitamin A: 318IU | Vitamin C: 41mg | Calcium: 58mg | Iron: 6mg