Nutrition counseling for those who want to feel healthier

January 2010 Newsletter

Tip of the Month: www.LetsSayThanks.com  If you go to this web site, you can pick out a thank you card drawn by a school child and Xerox will print it and have it sent to a soldier who is currently serving in Iraq.  You also select from a list of greetings.  The only personal touch is your name and where you come from.

Food Focus: Lentils

        Lentils are credited with being the first cultivated food. And it is worth whatever trouble our primeval ancestors went to because it makes for a very well-rounded dinner.  For starters, it will give you carbohydrate, protein, and fat (even before you add the olive oil).  Then you get a good sampling of the micronutrients: vitamins B-1, B-2, B-5, and other Bs that don't have numbers, and minerals, as well -- phosphorous, potassium, iron, and zinc in moderate amounts. Molybdenum is where lentils really shine in providing minerals.

        Molybdenum?  It's important in the metabolism of your food and, particularly, for the absorption of iron.

         Most people know that it is a good idea to soak all legumes before cooking.  The reason?  Nature has evolved a way to keep them from sprouting where they won't grow, i.e., in dry conditions.  Introduce moisture, and those sprout inhibitors -- which make it hard for us to digest the legume otherwise -- will separate and can be discarded with the soak water.

        Lentils are eaten all over the world, and especially in India, where there are over fifty varieties!  A real lentil frenzy.  What follows here is a recipe that borrows ideas  both from Indian dahl and from a pot of lentils my niece Meg cooked to welcome me when I visited her in Morocco ten years ago.

Recipe: Dahl

This is the basic recipe.  You can add things, of course, or alter proportions to suit your taste.

Ingredients:

1 cup of lentils (the pink ones cook quicker)

1 large onion, chopped

Garlic, chopped -- chop half a head, if you like it a lot!

Half cup of raisins

Half teaspoon of sea salt

1 teaspoon of turmeric

Quarter teaspoon cayenne; or half teaspoon to make it really hot

Quarter teaspoon of ground clove

2 tablespoons of coconut oil (or ghee, if you have it)

Directions: Soak the lentils half a day and throw away the soak water. For each cup of soaked lentils add two cups of water to cook them in.  While that's happening chop the onion and garlic and saute them in the coconut oil (or ghee), and when they are as tender as you want, then add the turmeric and turn off the flame. If you like your lentils crunchier, use less water. When the lentils are as soft as you want, add the salt and cayenne and raisins plus the oil-onion-garlic mixture.  Stir, cover, and let stand so the raisins can absorb and expand.  Keep the pot warm in the oven; or reheat later, remembering to stir constantly, if on the stove top.

Serve with plain yogurt.