Tuesday, May 6, 2008

Choliya - Green Bengal Lentils


Well I have had a few Indian frozen foods sitting in my freezer for probably a couple of months and I decided, partly due to a lack of freezer space, that we needed to go ahead and try those foods - so that is what we did.

I have had lentils in soup - not overly impressive, but mixed with spices and everything else - it's pretty edible.

The Choliya looks like frozen green peas. The taste reminds me of a milder green bean eaten raw. They are not sweet like peas and are quite flavorless. This bag of lentils cost about $1.50 and is a product of India.


Ds said it was horrible and dd thought it didn't have enough flavor. We were just eating them plain - cooked in the microwave. Surely mixed into a soup they'd taste fine.

6 comments:

Jennifer said...

Let me know if you come across a good lentil bean recipe. I've tried it a few times and it just so blah!

Dianna said...

Lentils are fabulous! They're seriously one of my favorite foods, and they're so good for you, too.

Here are some of my favorites:

*Tasty Lentil Tacos
*Baked Lentils with Cheese
*Mediterranean Lentil Salad

As my son would say, "mum, mum!"

Edi said...

Mrs. M - thanks for the recipes...I'm not sure why I haven't pursued lentils much...probably b/c I figure they take a lot of work. But I know I ought to experiment and see if I can add them to our diet.

Zanmei said...

Red lentils are really easy to cook as they "melt" quickly. Indian dahl and Turkish lentil soup (mercimek corbasi) are other great ways to eat lentils. One of my favorite recipes: http://www.channel4.com/food/recipes/popular-dishes/curry/masala-dal-garlicky-spiced-lentils-recipe_p_1.html

Anonymous said...

Of course they would taste horrible when eaten plain. You have to curry them or add them to soups.
My favorite way to eat choliya is either in a simple curried soup (saute minced onion,ginger,garlic,tumeric powder, cumin seeds, salt, pepper and add choliya + water and let it cook) or an easier way that I often end up doing is just dumping them into a shallow pan with some oil, cumin seeds and a spoonful of premade channa masala powder (found in indian stores or superstores)

Anonymous said...

Try the recipe at

http://potoba.blogspot.com/search?updated-min=2009-01-01T00%3A00%3A00-05%3A00&updated-max=2010-01-01T00%3A00%3A00-05%3A00&max-results=15


Is simple