Beluga Lentils

Little nuggets of nutrition

On a recent trip to visit my daughter, Olivia in Victoria, I discovered many wonderful things but interestingly a food I had never tasted, black or beluga lentils. I did not know there are so many varieties of lentils! Green, brown, red, French Puy lentils, yellow….and now black. Liv is a vegetarian and an Olympic athlete. She is always mindful of nutrition and getting the most amount of protein in her diet. One evening for dinner, she made the most delicious dish of beluga lentils served alongside a kale salad and fried tofu. I loved it. I think you will too.

Why are they called beluga lentils?

Naturally, I needed to research the lentils. I hadn’t seen them in a grocery store before nor heard of them before Liv mentioned cooking with them. She buys them in her local health food store. I couldn’t wait so I bought them on amazon. I am impatient. They were waiting for me upon my return home. Black lentils are known as beluga lentils because they resemble caviar. They are small, round, and black in color. They are most often used in Indian, Middle Eastern, and Mediterranean cooking. They aren’t easy to find, I noticed. Depending on the size of your local bulk or health food store, they may not carry them. 

In my everyday lentil cooking, I use mostly green lentils or the little brown French Puy lentils. I recently made a Moroccan lentil soup with red lentils; I rarely cook with them. The soup melted together with spices and onions in about 15 minutes - so good. It’s going to be a staple for me. I’ll share this recipe in a future post.

Nutrition 

Lentils overall are high in nutritional value, especially protein. They contain higher amounts of protein and fiber over regular beans such as white cannellini beans but both are excellent choices of plant based nutrition. Lentils contain various B vitamins, magnesium, zinc, and potassium. 1 cup of lentils contains nearly 18 grams of protein. 

Generally, one tends to over cook lentils. I do. I make soup or cook lentils for salad and forget about them simmering on the stove and find I have a mushy result. I need to pay closer attention especially for a salad so that the beans stay separate in the dressing.

Like making risotto

This recipe is a bit like making a risotto. You add liquid, wait for it to absorb, add more liquid. You need to linger by the stove, checking occasionally on the liquid levels. Olivia uses white wine as her liquid. I used chicken broth but did add 1 cup of white wine at the beginning of the cooking process. We both kept the recipe simple with only onions and garlic. The main thing is to be attentive. If all the liquid is absorbed, and you aren’t watching, there is a risk of it burning your pan and the lentils! 

Treat this dish as a side dish, adding grilled chicken, or tofu, roast pork or a variety of vegetables alongside. My main taste tester, Shawn, loved it which is very unusual as he isn’t a big lentil fan. I think it may be because these lentils hold their shape and have a nice texture. They also have an earthy, robust flavour.