Do lentils need to be soaked before cooking, and how to do it right

Lentils are a healthy bean crop, a source of protein, vitamins and nutrients. There are a lot of varieties, they differ in color, size of beans and cooking time. Any lentil needs to be soaked, but how and how much depends on the variety and the desired consistency in the dish.

Do lentils need to be soaked

Regardless of the variety of legumes, they must be washed. To do this, they are poured with cold water, filtered through a sieve. Further, they already arrive, depending on the variety and on the result that needs to be obtained.

purity.bigbadmole.com/en/ magazine recommends soaking any variety of lentils, but at different times. The operation allows you to dissolve the phytic acid inhibitor, which interferes with the absorption of some valuable minerals, in particular calcium, and causes bloating.

How to soak lentils

To soak lentils, it is poured so as to cover the beans with water, and left. In this case, the room should be warm, about 25 ° C. On average, it takes 10 hours for the lentils to completely neutralize phytic acid.

In which water

The main condition is the temperature of the water. It should be room temperature, about 20-24 degrees. If you take hot, beans lose their presentable appearance. If cold, the process will take longer.

For best effect, add lemon juice or apple table vinegar to the water (no more than 1 tbsp. Per glass of liquid).

What time is it

Varieties of quick cooking are enough 3-5 hours. Hard need up to 10 hours.

Important
After soaking, the cooking time is reduced by 2-3 times.

How to soak at night

In order to get an almost ready dish free of inhibitor by morning, you should soak the lentils for 8 hours or more. “Warm” varieties do not tolerate this procedure very well, but hard (brown, brown, all French) are ideal. They must be left overnight in acidified water, and in the morning they will be cooked in 15-20 minutes.

It is allowed not to cook green and brown lentils for salad after soaking overnight, because the taste of the dish will be better if the beans retain their shape and are slightly harsh. In this case, it is enough to rinse the lentils and send them to the salad bowl.

How to Cook Soaked Lentils

Red - The fastest lentils in cooking. It is not very suitable for soup, but it makes good mashed potatoes. Red lentils are cooked for less than 15 minutes without soaking. And after the procedure - no more than 5-10 minutes. Therefore, if whole grains are needed in the soup, they are thrown into a boiling broth at the end of cooking.

Pink grade looks like red, and they do the same to him.

Orange look a little tougher, but in terms of cooking is no different.

Yellow lentils also boils quickly, its main difference is that it swells a lot. Therefore, it produces an airy, very gentle mashed potatoes. For meatballs, after boiling, the beans are left on the stove turned off, under the lid for another 5 minutes, so that the mass increases more in volume.

Canadian black varieties - Beluga - refer to the average speed of boiling. This is a specially bred variety, and so far rarely found on the shelves, so it is worth the effort to get it. Beluga is often used to decorate dishes, for salads and sandwiches. Prolonged soaking deforms the grains and spoils the beautiful look. Without aging in water, the variety is cooked for 20 minutes, so for a salad it takes 3 hours and cooking a maximum of 10 minutes.

Interesting fact
Black Canadian lentils were called Beluga for the similarity of beans to black caviar.

Hard lentils. If you soak it for hours, then cooking will take 30 minutes.If the beans spend longer in acidified water, 15-20 minutes will be enough. To preserve the integrity of lentils, cooking time can be shortened.

Brown grade - the slowest. It is ideal for soaking overnight, but after that it will be cooked until mashed for about 30 minutes.

Brown (something between brown and green) according to the cooking technology, it is more like brown and also requires soaking before cooking.

French varieties are also quite hard. Their incredible delicate taste is unique and does not require seasoning. For salad, it is recommended to soak them in salted and acidified lemon juice water for 8 hours and then do not boil, but only rinse.

Many cooks believe that soaking worsens the taste of French lentils and recommend immediately boiling it for 30-45 minutes.

Even after cooking, the beans remain slightly solid, such is the specificity of this culture. Therefore, exquisite pilaf and soups are obtained from the French variety.

Tip
Lentils are cooked faster in fresh water. If you need to boil the beans, put the salt at the end of cooking, and to preserve the integrity of the shells - immediately.

Lentils, unlike beans, are cooked faster and easier, and phytic acid in its shells is slightly less. Therefore, it is not necessary to soak it all night, but it is convenient: in the morning it is enough to throw the beans in boiling water and wait at least 5, and a maximum of 30 minutes. And on your table there is a nutritious dish that will not cause heaviness or swelling, but will give all its useful substances completely and easily absorbed by the body.