Saturday, July 21, 2007

Lentil Soup

I made this for lunch today. Yum, yum, yum!

2 tablespoons olive oil
2 medium carrots, diced
2 stalks celery, diced
1 medium onion, diced
1 tablespoon minced garlic
3 cups beef or vegetable broth
2/3 cups dry lentils, rinsed well
1 tablespoon chili powder
2 teaspoons cumin
2 teaspoons smoked paprika (optional)
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1/4 cup tomato sauce
salt and pepper to taste

In a large saucepan, heat the oil over medium heat. Add onions, carrots, celery and garlic; cook, stirring occasionally, until onions are soft. Add broth and bring to a boil. Add lentils and spices; reduce heat to low, cover and simmer, stirring occasionally, for 45 minutes - 1 hour, until lentils are soft. Add tomato sauce and salt and pepper, cook 10 minutes more.

Makes 3 generous servings.

22 comments:

The Alt Martha said...

Okay, this is an embarrassing sign of how little I cook but you'll get a kick out of it...one of the first times I ever made lentil soup I cooked the whole batch and then saw some tiny worm like things in it so my roommate and I threw it all out. Only afterwards did we realize they were worms, merely sprouts coming out from the lentils. Doh!

kbeeps said...

That's funny! Totally sounds like something I would do - I'm paranoid about stuff like that!

Anonymous said...

When you saw the little "worm" things were there black things in it as well?

Anonymous said...

1/25/09 - On "worms" in beans. I cooked 5 crockpots of beans, 3 types, ALL had this rice looking "crecent shaped segmented shape" THAT is a worm, I am told it gets into the seeds of the various beans at the "growing site" and comes out during the cooking process. Well, I freaked out!!! Having cooked brown lentils for 15 years, & NEVER saw such a thing!!! Grossed me out!!! Retail store took "sample" and then said it was "sprouts" - some experts have told me "hard drid beans" DO NOT SPROUT. ANY bean has their own ID bean spout which any of us can grow from our kitchen. Now when somebody wants to tell me a WORM is a sprout? I am not going to accept that!! Not after cooking a ton of various beans and never seeing a "worm" - This worm is the SAME in all different types of beans that were infested. Another retailer says it comes from planting source and sits,or is old or has sat in a hot warehouse. Whatever the reason, they pull it from shelf. I am NOT going to EAT worms!!! I have a partial vegetarian diet that requires beans as a source of protein, NEVER have I encountered this before. A WORM IS A WORM!! and a bean SPROUT IS A SPROUT!!! I am still cooking various types to find a clean bean.Comments welcomed!!END

Di said...

I made lentil soup for the first time today, and a few bites into it, I noticed those little crescent shaped white things. My first thought was that they are worms!!! Yuck. I just got online to research it, and I came across your post. So, are they worms or not? The OP seems to think so. I sure hope they're not because I ate some :-(

Anonymous said...

I have seen these worm-like things after cooking dried beans and canned beans. I stopped buying pork'n'beans because i saw them in the can before cooking them. How do we find beans without these worms?

Anonymous said...

Yes they are worms. I had the same experience. Thought it may be the garlic I used before cooking the lentils, but the store and my physician said they were worms. My doctor, who is from India, said it is very common in his country but they will not hurt you.

Anonymous said...

10/29/09 - I HATE those BEAN WORMS!!!! I refuse to eat them!! 8 pots of various type beans thrown out!!!! I found a site(somewhere) that explains the infestation at the "growing site" naturally, all the retailers deny this - Ladies and gents, THEY ARE WORMS!!!! NOT BEAN SPROUTS!!!!!! I bought canned brand name beans - organic beans, every bean I like and ALL of them surfaced in the beans once cooked. I am not about to eat a bean infested with a worm, that enters the seed at the growing site and sits up house-keeping in the bean = OR my stomach!! Don't want them hatching out in ME!! I am looking for source of "help" - for 17+ years I have cooked beans, could this be "political" ?? everything else seems to be corrupt, why not our bean supply, which would be a disaster to the public. Anybody have any suggestions to this problem? I am buying canned "Refried beans" (salt-225mg)- at least I can't "see" them! I am frantic to find an answer - don't need the salt!!!!END

Anonymous said...

11/23/09
OK people - here I go AGAIN!! Have cooked every dried bean on the shelf, and all lentil, most recent was the "Red Lentil" ($3.99 a bag!) from a Health Food Store. Well, they TOO had the worms in them. Of course, with a recession, this is not good news, but personally, I don't live in India and I HAVE NEVER had this problem. EVERYBODY that cooks knows what "clean beans" look like, and by golly, I AM NOT GOING TO EAT THEM!!!! The retailers are going to deny all this. I would rather just have the truth about a cure. New info on the "Bean Worm Site" (goggle it!) says some growing sites are experimenting with a product that will make the soil "sterial and clean" and these little worms won't be there. In my life time!!! PLEASE!!! Thanks to all.

nobody said...

I don't believe the white crescent shapes in lentils to be worms. Take a look at these images depicting the bean as it sprouts. This is what I have seen in my lentils. Maybe others are seeing something different but this is what I usually see.

http://www.seedbiology.de/images/allium2.gif
http://history.nasa.gov/NP-119/p19.jpg
http://www.wastatelaser.org/_support/toolkits/stc/plant_growth_dev/images/lima_bean_inside.jpg
http://www.bbc.co.uk/scotland/education/bitesize/standard/img/biology/bean-shoot.jpg

Swisstoons said...

Fifteen minutes ago, I got down to the last three or four spoonsful of a can of Kroger Pork & Beans when I saw the "wormlike things." At first, I thought they were worms. Then I recalled have sprouted beans in my youth and seeing something similar as they sprouted and told myself that must be it; sprouts! When I was down to the last spoonful, though, I fished one out and took a closer look...squeezed it a bit. It WAS a damned worm. There must've been at least a teaspoonful of them in there. Well, it is protein. And they were cooked. But Kroger's will hear from me tomorrow.

Unknown said...

I had some Tabachnick's Tuscan Lentil soup today and was freaked out a bit by the tiny, white, worm-like, teeny mushroom-like things in my soup, so I called them at their company. Before i could even get the question out, the woman asked said, "The tiny white things?" and I said yup. She said with a smile, probably since she gets asked that a lot, that I was not to worry, they are indeed just the sprouts from the lentils. Rest assured, I ate the soup and it was wonderful. They are not worms. Only sprouts.

Unknown said...

Just so you can see a photo of lentils that have spouted, please check out: http://www.herbsarespecial.com.au/free-sprout-information/lentils.html
or
http://www.rawfoods-livingfoods.com/how-to-grow-bean-sprouts.html
Please don't let people scare you. These are not worms. They are sprouts and are very nutritious. Seeds can sprout in even a modicum of moisture, so if your dry cabinet isn't that dry after all (humid days of summer perhaps), you will grow sprouts. These sprouts will dislodge in making soup. Eat them.

Momma's fat baby said...

http://ento.psu.edu/extension/factsheets/bean-seed-maggot
vs.
http://www.herbsarespecial.com.au/free-sprout-information/lentils.html

notice the sprouts have a bit of green at the end and the worms don't.

boz said...

DAMMIT! I'M CONFUSED!!!!!
CAN I EAT THEM OR NOT?????
I'M FRIGGIN HUNGRY HERE!!!!

Elizabeth Mueller said...

No kidding! Me too... :(

Unknown said...

http://dawnaara.com/blogs/health/18900223-sprouted-tangy-lemon-lentil-soup

saltina said...

I'm so glad that's been cleared up.

Vgal said...

I have found them in glass jars of jalapenos. They are worms. Now, I examine physically or glass of the jar top and bottom to make sure there aren't any of those when I buy my jalapenos. I have found the same little white worms in rolled oats. Rolled oats don't sprout. Today I have noticed the same little white worms in some bags of split peas and red beans and lentils. If those were sprouts, they would all look differently. They all look the same. They are worms.

Unknown said...

I just saw these things I'm my lentils, so maybe they are sprouts...but I'm not going to eat them I'd rather be safe then sorry...

Unknown said...

Do a little experiment. Like in 2nd grade science class. Put couple pieces of your "wormy" lentil or beans in between sheets of damp paper towel for 24hrs. And watch in amazement what happens. Than you can decide it for yourself for sure. There won't be any doubt, trust me.

Unknown said...

Omg..i just did samething. I almost vomited!! Lol