Indian Lentils With Coconut

We're trying this recipe today in honor of Blessed Teresa of Calcutta's feast day (San Lorenzo Giustiniano of Venice on the traditional calendar--maybe we'll have Past'é Fagioli for dinner!)
Mother Teresa travelled all over the world and helped the poorest of the poor, rescuing the dying from the gutters of India (Hinduism teaches that the suffering deserve to suffer for their transgressions and we will be punished for helping them) and nursing the sick and suffering for almost all her life. However, she said that throughout all her travels the one thing she has seen that saddens her more than anything else in the world is communion in the hand.

I fully concur.



Indian Lentils With Coconut



Prep: 5 minutes; Cook: 45 minutes.

1 teaspoon olive oil
1 cup chopped onion
4 cups water
1 pound dried small red lentils, washed and picked over
1 (13.5-ounce) can light coconut milk
1 bay leaf
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1. Heat olive oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add chopped onion; sauté 5 minutes or until just beginning to brown. Stir in the water, lentils, coconut milk, and bay leaf. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat; reduce heat to low. Simmer, stirring occasionally, 40 minutes or until the lentils are soft.

2. Remove and discard the bay leaf. Then stir in salt and pepper.

Yield: 10 servings (serving size: 1/2 cup)

CALORIES 196 ; FAT 3g (sat 1g,mono 0.0g,poly 0.0g); PROTEIN 13g; CHOLESTEROL 0.0mg; CALCIUM 25mg; SODIUM 129mg; FIBER 7g; IRON 3mg; CARBOHYDRATE 30g

Health, MARCH 2006