Lentejas Chilenas
A Chilean lentil stew: green or brown lentils slow-cooked with onion, garlic, carrot, potato, smoked bacon and tomato, finished with oregano and vinegar.
Overview
A Chilean lentil stew, the kind of one-pot that turns up at any Sunday lunch through autumn and winter. You render smoked bacon in a heavy pot until the fat runs clear, then soften onion, garlic and carrot in the rendered bacon fat. Tomato and a generous scatter of dried oregano build the base. Green or brown lentils go in with stock and simmer for forty-five minutes until tender. Potato chunks join for the last twenty minutes. A splash of red wine vinegar at the end brightens the whole stew and pushes it from heavy to balanced. Eaten with crusty bread, a chopped salad on the side, and a glass of red.
Ingredients
- 400 g green lentils (or brown lentils, rinsed)
- 200 g smoked streaky bacon (or smoked pancetta - cut into 1 cm pieces)
- 1 onion (large, chopped)
- 4 garlic cloves (crushed)
- 2 carrots (diced)
- 1 stick celery (diced)
- 2 fresh tomatoes (grated) or 1 small tin chopped tomatoes
- 2 tablespoons tomato puree
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 ½ teaspoons salt
- ½ teaspoon ground black pepper
- 2 bay leaves
- 1.4 litres hot stock
- 2 potatoes (medium, peeled, cut into 2 cm cubes)
- 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
- 3 tablespoons fresh parsley (chopped)
Method
Stage 1 - Bacon
- Heat a wide heavy pot over medium heat.
- Add the bacon; cook 6-7 minutes until the fat renders and the bacon is lightly gold.
Stage 2 - Aromatics
- Add the onion, carrot and celery; cook 10 minutes, stirring, until soft.
- Add garlic; cook 30 seconds.
Stage 3 - Spices and tomato
- Stir in paprika, oregano, cumin; toast 30 seconds.
- Add tomato and tomato puree; reduce 4 minutes.
Stage 4 - Simmer
- Add rinsed lentils, bay, salt, pepper, hot stock.
- Bring to a simmer; reduce heat; cover.
- Cook 45 minutes, stirring occasionally, until lentils are tender.
Stage 5 - Potato
- Add the potato; cook another 18-20 minutes until tender.
- Stir in vinegar; taste; adjust salt.
Stage 6 - Serve
- Scatter parsley.
- Eat with crusty bread or a wedge of marraqueta.
Notes
- Brown / green lentils: Hold their shape better than red lentils, which collapse. The Chilean original uses green.
- Smoked bacon depth: The signature. Skip it (and add 1 tsp smoked paprika more) for a vegetarian version.
- Vinegar at the end: Cuts the richness. Don't add to the boil - it goes flat.
Storage
- Refrigerate 5 days; lentils improve on day 2.
- Freezes 3 months.
More like this
Frijoles Paisas
Dried red beans soak overnight. Bacon and chorizo render in a wide pot; aromatics build the base; soaked beans simmer with a chunk of green plantain (the trick, it dissolves over the cook and naturally thickens the broth) and pork belly for 2 hours. Hogao folds in at the end. Lime brightens.
Holubtsi
A whole cabbage is cored and lowered into boiling water; the outer leaves soften and peel off in turn. The filling, half-cooked rice mixed with beef, pork, onion, garlic, herbs, egg, gets a heaped tablespoon onto each leaf, which folds and rolls into a parcel. The rolls layer in a pot with sauce of tomato, stock and soured cream; everything braises for 1 hour. Soured cream and dill at the table.
Couscous Royale
Lamb and chicken poach slowly in a saffron-tomato broth with chunks of root vegetables and chickpeas. Merguez sausages grill or fry separately. Couscous steams (or is rehydrated quickly with hot broth and butter). Everything plates separately on a vast platter; diners build their own bowls and slick with harissa.
Jambalaya
A modern pasta-twist on the Cajun one-pot classic, swapping the traditional rice for penne but keeping the layered Louisiana flavour intact. You brown andouille sausage hard in a heavy pot to render its smoky fat, then add chicken pieces and cook them through in the same fat. The Cajun trinity (onion, celery and sweet pepper) softens in next, Cajun seasoning blooms in the heat, and a tomato base goes in with cream to build a sauce that's rich, smoky and just-spicy. Cooked pasta tosses through at the end, with prawns going in for the last few minutes so they stay tender. Eaten in deep bowls with parsley scattered over and hot sauce on the table for whoever wants more heat. New Orleans rules adapted to a Tuesday-night kitchen.