Last night was a taco night for our family, and my chosen filling was a ground turkey filling. I have a couple of rolls of the better quality frozen turkey in the freezer, and pulled one of them out. It thawed shortly, and I began browning up the turkey. It seems that even though it was the more expensive frozen ground turkey, it still was lacking, as it browned up to an amount that was clearly not enough for our family of four to enjoy tacos. I added a fresh diced tomato with the taco seasoning, but it still wasn’t enough.
Often times in the past, I’ve added a bit of refried beans to our taco meat. If I do it right, the kids don’t notice at all, and it’s a great way to stretch a pound of taco meat. But I didn’t have any refrieds on hand, and it would take hours to cook up a handful of dried pinto beans for that purpose. I didn’t have hours- one hour, yes, but not several. Looking in the cupboard for a suggestion, my eyes landed on the lentils. That lovely legume which cooks up in about 30 minutes- it would do. And even better, I found a recipe on Allrecipes for a specific taco filling and went to work.
Just a handful of ingredients and a bit of time, and this Tasty Lentil Taco filling came together. A small onion, a clove of garlic, taco seasoning, lentils and a bit of broth went in the pot, and a bit salsa was added later. I used beef broth because that’s what I have at the moment. Chicken would obviously work, and for a vegetarian or vegan version, use veggie broth. (Because these lentils are so flavorful, I suspect even water would work, but then you’d want to add a bit of salt, as the broth seems to contribute the salt to the dish. ) I started by sauteeing the onion and garlic in a bit of oil for a few minutes. Then I added the taco seasoning (homemade, by the way) and lentils and cooked for another minute to toast up the spices a bit. Next the broth went in, and when the whole thing came to a boil, the lid went on, and the lentils simmered until tender. For me, that took about 40 minutes.
At the very end, I took a potato masher to the lentils about 5 or 6 times. Just enough to break up some of the lentils, but most stayed intact. Then I added a bit of salsa, which was an added bonus for me. I cleaned the fridge this weekend and found jar after jar of salsa remains. This lentil dish emptied three of them for me. Oh my gosh. Words are inadequate to tell you how much I loved these lentils. One of my favorite ways to eat lentils is in an Indian spiced Dal, but this was a whole new realm of possibility for me. Mexican flavored lentils, they were simply incredible. I could have just stood there over the pot and emptied it right then and there! I spooned some of the lentils into the turkey meat- enough to add some bulk, but not enough that you could easily spot the lentils. They really blended right in. As I looked at the quantity of lentils left in the pan, I knew that my personal dinner plans had changed. I was not going to have tacos with the rest of the family after all. I needed to eat these lentils in a manner that would make them shine!
So I made a taco bowl instead. Very, very simple. I put some cooked brown rice down in my bowl and then topped that with a healthy serving of the lentils. For the finishing touch, a small tomato was chopped up with some scallion, and the whole thing was capped off with a dollop of sour cream. This was even better than my favorite Dal.
Pure Heaven in a bowl. In fact, as I was in foodie oblivion enjoying my dinner, it occured to me that these lentils did, in fact, resemble ground meat in texture. It was remarkable! The more I ate it, the more I thought that some time I could try making just these lentils as a taco filling, and my family might even eat it and not feel like they were missing the meat.
The recipe below is pretty much how I made it. No fuss at all, and incredibly tasty. Something else I haven’t mentioned is the cost to make this recipe. Lentils are insanely affordable- still just around one dollar for a pound of them. Per serving, this is practically free to make- especially if you have everything on hand already. I’m seriously considering making this in bulk and freezing it in portions too- I think it would work very well. I actually failed to ask Andy what he thought of the modified filling with meat and lentils, but I do know that both kids ate their dinner with no complaint.
Tasty Lentil Taco Filling
1 teaspoon canola oil 2/3 cup finely chopped onion 1 small clove garlic, minced 2/3 cup dried lentils, rinsed 1 tablespoon taco seasoning, or to taste 1 2/3 cups chicken broth 2/3 cup salsaHeat oil in a skillet over medium heat; cook and stir onion and garlic until tender, about 5 minutes. Mix lentils and taco seasoning into onion mixture; cook and stir for 1 minute.
Cover lentils with chicken broth and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low; cover and simmer until lentils are tender, 25 to 30 minutes.
Uncover and cook until mixture is slightly thickened, 6 to 8 minutes. Mash lentils slightly; stir in salsa.
