Lentils?

[dillydallydollydaydream7]

I'm wondering if anyone can help?

I've heard about adding lentils to mince to bulk it up so it goes further - I was wondering how I do this? I have lentils in the house but I honestly don't know what to do. I'm thinking I cook them, strain them and then just add them? But then wondering if they need breaking up?

Any tips welcome!

What sort of lentils do you have? In a can? Or dried ones? Red? Green?

Either way I would cook them straight on with your mince. But if its a can maybe add near the end as less cooking time needed.

3 ways you can buy lentils:
Dry in a bag, need soaking for 12 hrs then boiling c40 mins
Dry in a bag, boil 40 mins
In a can, already cooked.
To my palate, lentils need quite a lot of salt to be tasty. I know some mumsnetters are very anti salt though!

I don't agree that you have to soak any lentils! Both green and brown ones will cook in about 45 minutes.

I made my Bol as usual then shove in a cup of lentils and extra liquid before I put it on the oven to cook through. It’s nice. Gives it some sweetness and makes it go further.
If you’ve got fussy ones just start with a bit and build it up :-)

Red lentils, dried, straight from bag

There's red, green and brown lentils. The latter are the tastiest IMHO. They don't need soaking. Cooking time partly depends on how old they are, but 20-30 minutes is usually sufficient.

I tend to gently boil a couple of cups at a time and add them to stews or salads as and when. They'll absorb the sauce or dressing, so no need to season them separately.

Green lentil soup with garlic, cumin, lemon juice and fresh coriander is delicious.

Also try brown lentils with caramelised onions and Greek yoghurt added to basmati rice. Yummy!

As above. Cook big Bolognese with small amount of mince (250g)? At the point of putting the lid on and letting it all simmer, I add a cup of lentils. Known as chopped up carrots until kids said they liked it often enough 🤣.
Same for sausage casserole.
Occasionally ratatouille.
Also this soup recipe is amazing with lentils.

www.hairybikers.com/recipes/view/red-lentil-and-harissa-soup

P.s. I just use red lentils from a bag

Red lentils from a bag, my favourite is in a lamb stew where you slow cook them for that long, they basically melt into the gravy.

Red lentils straight from the bag. You just need a bit extra liquid.

I generally throw a can of green lentils in at the simmering stage when I make cottage pie. I don't see why it wouldn't work for spag bol, maybe less than a whole can though.

What are you cooking?

Lentils do not need soaking, but they should be put in a sieve & rinsed well before cooking. No need to pre-cook if making a casserole/stew type dish - just check the liquid levels during cooking.
Red ones dissolve into a meat sauce when cooked for a long time, & are unnoticeable so good for economising.
Puy lentils are the best, & deserve to be treated well - as befits their price.

Thank you all for so many replies! You've all been very helpful! Some very good ideas here too!

I should have mentioned the lentils I have in are dried, red lentils. I'm planning on doing spag Bol tomorrow and want to have a go at bulking it out - I'm hoping if it works well I'll do it going forward to try and make the mince go further. Thought I better find out now how to use them as it might help make more with food prices predicted to go up, thank you to you all

It will be fine , I did it last week with cottage pie , cooked the onions and mince put the stock in with a big handful of lentils it made it go much further .( I had bought a small packet of reduced mince thinking I had another in the freezer and I didn't so it turned out to be quite a cheap cottage pie !)

I added a generous handful of couscous to spag bol this week plus some extra fluids, family all said they preferred it 😊

Just throw them in and add some extra water.