This Madras Lentils recipe is so good you will want to whip up a big pot and stock your freezer with a week’s worth of lunches!
Let’s talk Tasty Bite.
Have you ever tried these delectable little packages?
I adore them. Quick, easy, and seriously delicious.
My favorite is the Tasty Bite Madras Lentils, which tastes like an Indian-flavor-infused hearty vegetarian chili. Which is obviously right up my alley.
While you really can’t beat one-step-one-minute convenience, you CAN make a huge batch for really cheap in just a few hours at home.
Don’t be put off by the time it takes to make this madras lentils recipe. Out of the two hours total, only about 20 minutes is active time.
There’s lots of simmering action, so feel free to go about your day while your house starts to smell completely amazing.
I decided to use a mixture of adzuki and mung beans because they perfectly replicate the texture of this dish. If you have a hard time finding adzuki beans, use regular “small red beans.” The adzuki beans are really tasty, you can find them here on Amazon.
Don’t forget to plan for time to soak the adzuki beans overnight!
Mung beans are green and very round. When cooked they retain their shape and toothiness, so they add lots of great texture.
Unlike the adzuki beans, they don’t need to be soaked so they just get thrown in halfway through the cooking time.
So…. the elephant in the room.
Madras Lentils… without any lentils?
Yep. I tried making this with regular brown lentils, red lentils, and French lentils but it just wasn’t the same.
Trust me on this one and just go with it.
If you want to get really crazy you can double this recipe in a big ol’ 6-quart pot and stock your freezer with your very own instant Madras Lentils.
If you keep frozen prepared naan in your freezer (Trader Joe’s!) you’ll be seriously ready for lunchtime nirvana.
How to Make Madras Lentils
Heat the olive oil in a 3-quart or larger pot set over medium heat. Add the onion and jalapeno; sauté until onion begins to soften, about 5 to 7 minutes.
Add the minced garlic, paprika, cumin, coriander, fenugreek, red pepper flakes, and ground ginger. Stir well to coat the vegetables in spices. Cook for 1 to 2 minutes, until the garlic is fragrant.
Add the soaked adzuki beans along with the vegetable broth and tomato sauce. Bring the mixture to a boil, then reduce the heat to medium low and cook uncovered for 45 minutes.
Add the mung beans to the pot and allow to cook for another 45 minutes.
Stir in the half-and-half, tomato paste, vinegar, sugar, salt, and pepper. Taste and add more salt and pepper as needed.
Optionally garnish with cilantro.
Serve with rice and/or Naan bread.
Check out our other Indian Recipes!
Here’s the Recipe!
Madras Lentils Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 1 cup diced yellow onion
- 1 jalapeno - seeded, stemmed, and diced
- 3 cloves garlic - minced
- 2 teaspoons paprika
- 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
- 1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
- 1/4 teaspoon fenugreek
- 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
- 1/8 teaspoon ground ginger
- 3/4 cup dry adzuki beans - soaked overnight
- 1 quart vegetable broth
- 1 8-ounce can tomato sauce
- 1 1/3 cup mung beans
- 1/2 cup half-and-half*
- 3 tablespoons tomato paste
- 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- Optional garnish with cilantro
Instructions
- Heat the olive oil in a 3-quart or larger pot set over medium heat. Add the onion and jalapeno; saute until onion begins to soften, about 5 to 7 minutes.
- Add the minced garlic, paprika, cumin, coriander, fenugreek, red pepper flakes, and ground ginger. Stir well to coat the vegetables in spices. Cook for 1 to 2 minutes, until the garlic is fragrant.
- Add the soaked adzuki beans along with the vegetable broth and tomato sauce. Bring the mixture to a boil, then reduce the heat to medium low and cook uncovered for 45 minutes.
- Add the mung beans to the pot and allow to cook for another 45 minutes.
- Stir in the half-and-half, tomato paste, vinegar, sugar, salt, and pepper. Taste and add more salt and pepper as needed.
- Optionally garnish with cilantro.
- Serve with rice and/or Naan bread.
VIDEO
NOTES
RECOMMENDED PRODUCTS
I really get irritated with people who make a bunch of changes to a recipe then give it only 2-3 stars because “it just didn’t taste good…” Argh! I had to make changes to this recipe for reasons explained below, but am giving it FIVE REALLY BIG STARS because it’s so versatile! Also, please note that I decided to make this at 5:00pm, so used what I had on hand…
Background: I will be 80 on my next birthday and have been dealing with RA for over 50 years, so have Halloween hands; I don’t chop veggies unless absolutely necessary. I’m married to a Dutchman with a healthy dose of Indonesian who was a child POW during WWII; he’s a confirmed carnivore as a result – but one who can no longer eat the spicy Indonesian food he used to love. (FYI, we met in the Peace Corps, hence our comfort with compromises and versatile recipes.) So, here is my compromise, and given the first ingredient, these are obviously no longer “Madras” Lentils – or even, come to think of it, “Lentils”… 🙂
* 1 lb ground beef
* 1 container Trader Joe’s mirepoix – chopped onions, celery and carrots. (So I don’t have to – and a little celery and carrots never hurt.)
* NO jalapeños or red pepper flakes. (See “husband” above. I add on the side for me.)
* All the spices except fenugreek, which I didn’t have.
* 1 can Red Gold stewed tomatoes. (No tomato sauce or paste in the pantry.)
* 1 can cannellini beans. (Ditto re adzuki and mung beans in pantry.)
* Vinegar, sugar, S&P as in recipe.
* No H&H because I was out, but will get some and add to leftovers tomorrow.
We really enjoy this! AND, the last time I made it, I added a pouch of the Tasty Bite originals to stretch the yield a bit. Now THAT is gilding the lily!
PS – I looking forward to getting ALL of the ingredients and making the real version. Will first send my husband out of town for a week, of course…
LOL!!! – Linda
Hi Kelly, I so love you sharing your background, views and the love for this recipe with all your changes! This comment made my day! – Linda
Thanks, Linda! I had fun writing it. These quantities – and yes, I added a pkg of Tasty Bites again – make about 5-6 servings or 3 nights’ of dinners, depending on how hungry we are. I’m looking forward to trying some of your other recipes. Have you tried anything from Tunisia, our Peace Corps country, or from Algeria, where we also lived?
BTW, I bought fenugreek. I remember the smell from the spice souks in Tunis.
Hi Kelly, I’m not sure I have tried anything specifically from Tunisia or Algeria, but we do have 3 North Africa recipes with harissa in them. Some friends served us some Egyptian Foul a few weeks ago and it was so good! Do you have some favorite dishes from Tunisia and Algeria you would recommend?