Lately, my go-to lazy meal has been rice with pancharatna (5-jewel) daal. It is hearty, easy, and does not need a lot of spices to be flavourful.

Udad daal Masoor daal Moong daal Chana daal Arhar daal (Please check translations online as they have various names in English. These are the Hindi names.)

Half a cup of this mix in a pressure cooker with one cup of water, or slow cook it in a saucepan. Ghee in a saucepan, as much as you want + some oil to prevent it from burning. Cumin, 2-3 cloves of garlic and one green chilli cut in half lengthwise. Pinch of salt. When the garlic is golden, put in some chopped tomatoes, add half a teaspoon of turmeric and half tsp salt, and fry until mushy. Drop in the lentils and cook slowly. Add water if you want it more runny. Taste and add the final bit of salt to taste Optional garnish with coriander leaves and best served with basmati rice.

Try cooking the basmati rice with a couple of cloves and a bay leaf for that added aroma.

Red split lentils all the way! They’re great for soup that thickens itself. Great in stews or curries to thicken it a bit. There’s no danger of them having a bad texture like can happen with other lentils and they cook much quicker.

https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lenteja_pardina

Fry onions, garlic, chorizo and tomato with olive oil

Add water, lentils, potatoes, bay leaf and salt.

Cook in a pressure cooker for 45 minutes.

I don’t know why it’s preferred to use this type. Some ancient Spanish knowledge I guess.

TIL about different types of lentils.

We always have a few cans of the brown ones which is just used as like a replacement for ground beef in things like chilli, pasta. And ofc just in curries. Idk they seem to go very well in a lot of random stuff.

Would anyone recommend trying out other colors of lentils? Or is the taste/price/nutrition not really worth it?

I use green and brown pretty much interchangeably. They’re both more chewy and have a more defined taste. I think the green are a little more savory and the brown can be a little more peppery, but that may just depend on the stock you have access to. They’re good in long cooking stews or bolognese. I like the brown in lentil salad. Split lentils have a lighter taste and cook faster. Red split lentils are good for a quick soup, chili, or pancake/lentil omelet. You can always make a dal, dal is always amazing. I never regret dal.

I’ve relatively recently learned about red lentil pasta, and it’s just about sworn me off wheat pasta forever. It’s healthier, it’s extremely filling, and it’s actually tasty. I can’t eat plain pasta, it’s just so bland, I need pepper at the least, or sauce and grated cheese. But with red lentil pasta, I’m content just eating it as it is.

I guess that doesn’t answer your question, but I haven’t actually had any other lentils, so for now I’ll say red is my favorite until given reason to say otherwise.

Green or brown lentils in a vegetable broth stew with carrots, potatos, an onion, and sausages. Make a big pot and freeze and few servings. There are better versions of this stew but I’m too lazy to prepare more ingredients

I’m eating this right now

https://www.budgetbytes.com/slow-cooker-coconut-curry-lentils/

I only really get brown lentils, the two things I tend to use them for are the main ingredient in soup (along with carrots onions potatoes etc), and for fried lentils on rice.

We don’t have lentils nearly as much as we should, but when we do, it’s usually mujadara. Here’s a pretty basic recipe. There are fancier ones out there on the internet, but I like to keep it simple and easy.

Black/brown lentils in dhal makhani. Dirt cheap readymade packages at the grocery store too.

Other than that, I used to make spicy red lentil soup with the recipe on the back of the bag from Costco but made myself sick of it years ago.

You can also make tofu out of lentils: https://itdoesnttastelikechicken.com/easy-homemade-lentil-tofu/#recipe

I’d use any lentils for to thicken pasta sauce and add ez protein, same for soup. you could also mix in flour to form them into veggie patties. red lentils can be blended and mixed with starch to make a vegan cheese

Brown lentils.

• Dice onions, celery, carrots, in equal volume.

• Stirfry them in a pot with some olive oil.

• Throw in a sausage or some other meat with a strong flavour, just a small amount, stirfry until the outside is seared.

• Add a can of lentils and a can of tomato chunks and sauce, cook until the chunks have rendered.

• Serve with polenta or another neutral side.

As a person with a Sri Lankan heritage, I regularly use red lentils to make a delicious dhal to accompany my equally delicious beef curries.