spice question for lentil dish

[AdinaA]

I just realized that I have (some) vegetarians coming for dinner tonight; I am adding a lentil dish to the menu. I have on hand a good spice shelf and some fresh ginger.

So I am going to brown onions and celery and cook them with French lentils. What can I do to make this interesting? Sesame oil? Especially, any good ideas for spicing?

I also have red lentils on hand, I could do something with them instead of the French lentils.

Menu:

1st course:

Curried carrot/ coconut milk soup

Main:

Cabbage stuffed with lamb and Moroccan spices in red sauce
Rice and chickpeas with a different blend of Moroccan spices and a cartload of chopped parsley
mini zucchini, steamed

Dessert:

Chocolate torte

Any suggestions?

(We don't eat like this every night; it's the Sabbath.)

[scubadoo97]

I've been making French lentils cooked with carrots, celery and onions. They are so flavorful with just a little salt and pepper I don't think you really need to add much to them. They pick up a really sweet note from the carrots and onions. I have eaten this as a main course on a few occasions.

[AdinaA]

Thank you. I did cooked the French lentils with bay leaves and served them as a salad with chopped celery in Dijon vinaigrette. Served at room temperature. It was so fabulous! Thank you for the rescue.

[kamper]

My favorite red lentil dish (and actually the first time I'd ever cooked lentils actually came from Cooking Light magazine.

http://community.cookinglight.com/arc...

You'll have to find or make berbere but it's so good. I've made it with both regular onions and red onions. Yum.

[paulj]

You already have legumes with the rice.

How about seasoning the French lentils as a salad? du Puy stay distinct and so work especially well in salad (as do the little black ones)

e.g.
http://www.davidlebovitz.com/2006/11/...

[pine time]

Since it appears the lentils will be the main dish for the vegetarians, I'd stay in the same flavor family and add Indian spices to the lentils: coriander, cumin, turmeric, garam masala if you have it. Would crisp onions for on top and maybe add some naan, which would also go well with the lamb.