Trader Joe's Black Lentils

[DaisyM]

I just picked up a bag of black lentils. They are already cooked and vacum packed. Has anyone tried these yet and how did you serve them? Thank you!

[yamalam]

Thought of one more thing I recently tried from Nigella...rather than make a pan sauce when you roast or pan fry meat, toss a can/box/homemade lentils into the drippings. It flavors the lentils beautifully, and doesn't waste precious drippings when you dont feel like, or don't need a sauce. I like to do this with roast chicken.

[bitsubeats]

i like to throw them in a salad with arugula, olive oil and lemon juice. I also tried making burgers out of them by throwing them in a food processor with some mustard, roasted red peppers, garlic, lemon zest, and them dipped them in panko to fry. they were pretty tasty

experiment

whats wrong with buying pre cooked lentils anyways? everytime i cook them i ALWAYS over cook them and they turn to baby food ):

its nice that i can get them cooked perfectly rather than eating my rendition of lentil baby food

[gansu girl]

Just found those last weekend and have been eating them this week. My favorite way so far is cold w/halved grape tomatoes, a little drizzle of extra virgin olive oil and some sherry vinegar - stir & eat. Today I might just warm them up w/some baby spinach and some kosher salt and pepper. For some reason I was thinking of throwing a fried egg on top, too . . . .

To the other poster to talked about "dumbing down" and the other who says that lentils take 1/2 hour to cook - step off! I think it's great if "Suzy Soccer Mom" decides she likes lentils and has those for lunch or dinner instead of a Swanson's dinner or a Hot Pocket. As for the cooking time - I am an avid cook but have lots of demands on my time - pre-cooked lentils mean that I can have a delicious, highly nutritious lunch that takes a couple minutes to prep . . . a necessity when I have a preschooler experiencing hypoglycemic rage closeby. We can't all be high-brown gourmands 24/7.

[DiveFan]

@#!*&^%$ Trader Joes!!
This sounds like their recent trend of dumbing down the product description to not scare off Suzy Soccer Mom. Example, see Red Pepper Paste a.k.a. Ajvar.

Are these lentils whole (not split) and about 1/8 inch in diameter? If so, they may be urad dal.

[digkv]

Not everyone knows what Ajvar is and it's not dumbing it down for anyone if they call it what it really is: red pepper paste. They are bringing real, new unique ingredients to people everywhere and it's only pretentiousness like trying to call things by their foreign names that keeps people from trying these new things.

[DiveFan]

Hey, I've been a TJ fan for 25+ years.
Before the internet and Chowhound, I learned a lot from TJ (especially their newsletter) about so called 'exotic' or 'gourmand' ingredients.
Sorry y'all took the words 'dumbing down' a little harshly. However, it is NOT pretentious to use 'foreign names'. All TJ needs to do is add the four words 'Also Known As .....' to the label!

I have no objection to precooked and prepared foods for convenience EXCEPT that they are displacing other stock items. Sadly, TJs is looking more like a 'lifestyle' supermarket every day.

Back to the topic - do these lentils have a unique, even peculiar aroma?

[Mild Bill]

Lentils take 20 minutes to cook--- what's the deal here?

[mollyomormon]

I'm eating them as I type with TJ's tuna with green curry served over the top. It's a very filling and easy lunch.

[Pia]

I have! I made a chopped salad out of the lentils, bell peppers, green onion, raw garlic, lemon juice and a little bit of olive oil. Tomatoes and cucumbers would be good in this too. We had the salad as a side dish with roast chicken and broccoli.

[yamalam]

Totally second this recipe - and throw in some feta too. I used to buy those a lot but the other posters are right, cooking lentils is fast and easy, and TJ's charges $2.99 for that box, about a 10x markup.