Pinto Bean and Red Lentil Stew (No Added Fat)

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups beans rinsed, soaked overnight, and rinsed again
• 1/3 cup red lentil
• Just enough water to cover lentils and beans
• 1 1/2 cup Yukon Gold potato (medium potato) cut into 3/8" cubes - 23m
• 2 cups eggplant (about 1/2 eggplant) cut into 3/8" cubes
• 1 1/2 cups carrot (medium carrot) cut into 3/8" width and halved
• 1/3 cup fennel cut into 3/8" cubes
• 1 cup onion cut into 3/8" cubes
• 10-12 oregano leaves
• 2t lime (or lemon) juice
• 1 t garam masala (or 1/2 t turmeric)
• (optional) 1/4 t fenugreek seed
• 1/2 t freshly ground black pepper
• 1/2 t (or to taste) salt

Process

1. I cooked the beans, lentils, water, potato, eggplant, carrot, and fennel for 23 minutes (20-25 would have been fine; I wanted a thick result, so went with 23m).
2. After the cooking was done, I waited a few minutes and gently released pressure, then mixed in the onion, oregano, and spices.

I served with a tomato salad (heirloom tomato and some grape tomatoes that our neighbor brought over while I was cooking, Kalamata olives, fresh basil, ume plum vinegar, salt, and black pepper), as well as a kale rollup from Fruitive from our Washington, DC trip that we returned from last night (that isn't gluten-free, but I am labeling this entry as such because of the main course).

Results

The main course was tasty! I love what pressure cooked eggplant does - it doesn't seem to add appreciable flavor (even my brother-in-law who doesn't like eggplant didn't notice when I served him an eggplant dish recently) but thickens a dish.

Ideas for the future

I should more carefully explore how lentils and beans cook well together. I just experimented with a third of a cup of lentil - I wanted to add more, but that's all of the red lentils that I had.