brown lentils

Add the bay leaves, thyme, stock and green or brown lentils.

Brown lentils are sold everywhere, and specialty markets carry some others.

The best lentils are the tiny dark green ones known in France as lentilles de Puy, but brown lentils may also be used (they cook faster).

Standard light brown lentils begin to break down in the two hours it takes for the shanks to become fork-tender, but this texture is enjoyable in its own right.

I used French lentils, the nutty-tasting brown ones from the Champagne region, though Le Puy lentils or American brown lentils would be acceptable.

The second went to Brown Lentil, Chicken and Andouille Jambalaya submitted by Judy Armstrong of Prairieville, Louisiana.

I used the brown lentils I purchased in bulk months ago at an Indian grocery store (see poseur section, above), but I am positive I would have thrown in a cup each of all the lentils in my pantry.

When made with brown lentils and rice, it is known as mudardara in Lebanon; imjadra there generally refers to a dish made with green (and sometimes brown) lentils and bulgur; it is also topped with fried onions, melted butter, and served with yogurt.

For this soul-soothing one-dish meal, tiny brown lentils are simmered to tenderness and tossed (sometimes most dramatically) with short pasta and pan-crisped vermicelli, and often with rice, then sprinkled with bits of browned onions and cautious dabs of fiery hot tomato and chili sauces.