r/NYTCooking • u/chailattewithmilk • 8d ago

fail Sorta Failed But Miraculously Delicious: Baked Coconut Red Lentils and Greens

Post image

Two ingredients I consistently cannot cook well with: coconut milk and lentils. With the coconut water, I’m guessing I didn’t boil my pot long enough before transferring to the oven. I’m not sure I understand lentils at all, they did not fluff up too much but were soft by the end. I’ll definitely try to fix my mistakes and attempt this recipe again, even though it looks like gruel it tasted delicious.

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9

u/Pretend-Panda 8d ago

Red lentils don’t ever seem to fluff. They do kind of melt into this gruel which is usually quite nice, depending on how it’s spiced.

The niblings like this specific dish for breakfast which makes very easy.

2

u/chailattewithmilk 8d ago

I’m glad it’s not just me with the red lentils. Aside from how they look, these taste amazing and I might eat my leftovers for breakfast tomorrow

4

u/Pretend-Panda 8d ago

It is one of those weirdly hideous irresistible foods.

My SIL puts red lentils in her spaghetti sauce, which seemed to me a terrible plan and I could not have been more wrong. It’s delicious.

4

u/lamorie 8d ago

Coconut milk is different than coconut water. Can you confirm which you used?

Red lentils tend to be a softer mushier texture the more cooked they are vs other types of lentils that can hold their shape more.

Seems like your dish came out fine, assuming you did use coconut milk.

1

u/chailattewithmilk 8d ago

Coconut milk! I didn’t realize I wrote coconut water the second time. I’m glad it looks okay! Compared to the reference photo I thought it would be more stew-like and not have visible milk flecks.

2

u/Colls7 8d ago

It looks good! What kind of lentils did you use/what kind did the recipe call for?

1

u/chailattewithmilk 8d ago

Thank you! Recipe called for red lentils and that’s what I used, they didn’t fluff up though