Lentils & Rhubarb

As summer wanes, I was reminded today of rhubarb. It was strange, I was looking up a recipe that used orange lentils. Those are small bright orange lentils with the skins off. They cook up very quickly and can be used as a thickening agent in recipes. I have some and I had the urge to try a new Indian dish. Orange lentils are commonly used in dishes called dahls. Those are dishes, usually a mixture of vegetables, that include dried peas and beans or lentils. I love lentils and am fond of frying a chopped onion in bacon grease, then adding some normal green lentils with some water or stock and when they cook down, adding crumbled bacon or bacon chunks. Yum city! Hank doesn't get my fondness for lentils.

A side note about lentils: the town I grew up in was in the middle of wheat fields. The crops were wheat and barley. But since I've left the crops have changed. The area has become known (so says their annual festival and plentiful tee shirts) as the Pea and Lentil Capital of the World. Growing up there, though, I don't believe a lentil ever passed my lips. I don't think my mother knew what a lentil was. Strange.

Back to my quest for a recipe that used my orange lentils, I came across one, an intriguing one, using rhubarb. I love rhubarb, I grew up with rhubarb, rhubarb is my friend. (Ha, what politician did that remind you of?) Ever make rhubarb sauce? This strange recipe has my lentils combined with a sweet potato. Now that's unusual in itself but it also uses rhubarb. This got me thinking, I wonder how many of my readers have had a close relationship to rhubarb, or have a rhubarb tale to tell? Or maybe a tale of lentils, or one of a recipe using an odd mixture of ingredients? Anyway, this is a strange post about lentils leading me back to my old friend rhubarb.

Here's the aforementioned recipe and a link to some great sounding rhubarb recipes from another of this country's ubiquitous festivals, TheLanesboro Minnesotal Annual Rhubarb Festival.

Curried Lentils with Rhubarb
Nancy Martinson
Makes 4 servings

1 cup dried orange lentils
1 large sweet potato, peeled and sliced
1 Tablespoon oil
1 cup fresh Rhubarb diced
2 Tablespoons sugar
1Tablespoon curry powder
1 teaspoon freshly grated ginger
1 teaspoon hot red chili powder
salt and pepper to taste

Cover lentils with water in deep pot. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and add sweet potato slices. Simmer until soft, 30-60 minutes. Remove from heat, drain if necessary, mash with a fork and set aside.

Heat oil in skillet until hot. Add Rhubarb, stir and cook until tender. Stir in the other ingredients add to mashed lentils. Pour into baking dish. Bake 20 minutes until hot.

Serve this dish hot with cooked brown rice. Garnish with coconut if desired.

Caveat:
I made the recipe and 1. I felt too much curry powder 2. the rhubarb tartness didn't really come through 3. It needs to be served heated and with coconut to give it texture and dimension.