Green Lentils with Potato and Kale, Quinoa (No Added Fat, partially Waterless Cooking)

I thought that I would make a dish with lentils in the Instant Pot pressure cooker. I've had good luck including small squares of kale, and thought that I would experiment with tomato; this past Sunday I enjoyed including green tomato in a pressure-cooked dish, but wanted to try a dish where a more robust tomato flavor would fit in. As a final touch, I had some preserved lemon and thought that it would contribute a nice taste. I was free to spice the dish as I made a vegan grilled cheese sandwich and a variety of vegetables for my daughter.

Instead of brown lentils, I used French lentils. I skipped the garlic and jalapeno, and served raw onion at the table to be mixed in

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup green lentils
• 1 1/2 cups water
• 1 vegan bouillon cube
• 1/4 t turmeric
• 2 cloves garlic roughly cut into approximately 1/4" pieces
• 6 medium red potatoes (approximately 1 1/2") cut into quarters2
• 2 carrots cut into 1/4" slices
• 3 leaves kale, roughly hand cut into approximately 3/4" squares
• 1 red onion cut into 3/8" cubes; 1/2 reserved
• 1 medium tomato cut into 1/2" cubes
• 1/4 t salt
• 1/2 t cumin seed

Process

1. I put the lentils, water, bouillon cube, turmeric, and garlic in the Instant Pot and cooked for 12 minutes on high pressure; I let it finish and cool down till I could remove the top
2. In the meantime, I put in the potatoes, carrots, kale, half of the onion, and tomato into my large 3 quart Saladmaster stock pot; I should have preheated the pot, but it's okay not to.
3. I mixed the ingredients then, with no added liquid, covered the pan and set on medium; once the vapor button started rattling, I reduced the heat to low and cooked for 20m.
4. Once the 20m was up, I mixed the lentils, remaining half onion, salt, and cumin seed into the cooked stock pot ingredients, and served.

I also had made some quinoa (1 : 2 ratio of quinoa to water; I first sautéed some bell pepper and onion, then added the quinoa, water, and bouillon cube, and served with a bit of salt).

Results

Dinner was good! I thought that the potato could have been cooked another few minutes, but my wife liked it as is with a good bite. The combination was good and the moisture was just right and not runny. The lentils went well with the quinoa.

Ideas for the future

I think I'd cook the vegetables in the stock pot a bit longer so that the potato would have been cooked just a bit more - maybe 5 more minutes. A little bit of jalapeno could go well with the lentils.