Author: I WON I WON I WON! I'm so subtle, I know. I'm sure you have heard by now, but if not, Canadian Lentils chose me, along with 4 other awesome bloggers to go film a cooking show in P.E.I. with Food Network Star Chef Michael Smith. Oh boy, was that an experience!
My entry was this YouTube video where I featured one of my favourite lentil recipes, Lentil Tacos with Avocado Cilantro Sauce. Apparently, the recipe and my quirky personality were well received, as before I knew it, I was on a terrifying little plane on my way to see Chef Michael Smith.
A full day of filming was dedicated to just little ol' me! At first, I wondered how in the world, it would take so long to film a 15 minute recipe, but the day quickly flew by.
Filming in front of this giant crew and eight (yes eight) cameras pointing at me, was such a fun/stressful/scary/amazing/exciting/awkward experience... and I absolutely loved it. Someone give me a cooking show please. I want to do this all the time!
That's not to say it was easy, because it certainly wasn't.
The director and Chef Michael Smith would give me a 627 instructions (or something like that): look here, say this, don't say that, don't talk about what you're doing, but talk about something, don't say that you are chopping an onion, tell me why you're chopping an onion... "errr... so that it's chopped?"
It went on like that. Then they follow up all of these instructions by saying "act natural". See how natural I am ↓↓↓ haha! 😁
I would be chopping up an extremely underripe mango (apparently the camera can't tell) and then suddenly someone would run in to do a close-up of my mango chopping skills (which are hugely lacking p.s.).
Meanwhile, I'm inching away from the camera afraid of injuring the expensive technology with Michael's large chef knife and the camera man keeps chasing me getting closer and closer to my awkward chopping.
Regardless of my chopping skills, and lack of knowing what to say, I seemed to work my way through filming, and I was even able to break the entire crew at one point and make them all burst into laughter when they weren't supposed to. FINALLY!!
Hardest part for sure was that there was a roomful of people that I was having a completely one-sided conversation with. I literally couldn't tell if anyone was remotely interested in what I was yabbering on about, because they couldn't respond.
At least I know that everyone enjoyed the food. After every cut, the crew would swarm my tacos and quickly devour them all. Wooing the world one delicious vegan meal at a time. Muhahaha!
I can't reveal all the secrets, because there were some fun (and slightly evil) surprises they had in store for us, but I just can't wait to see/ I am terrified to see the final videos!
Update: You can now see the final video here.
Isn't that a lovely looking crew?? It's so much fancier than the crew I am used to (me, myself, and I).
To celebrate the end of the festivities, Chef Michael Smith taught me how to use a knife to cut the top off of a champagne bottle.
A big thank you to Ethan from Food Bloggers of Canada for taking all of these photos (and driving my hungover self around P.E.I. the day after the shoot).. what... champagne... And to Rachel from Canadian Lentils for filming this video (and just generally being awesome).
I wanted to share a recipe in celebration of this super fun event, and since I already posted the Lentil Tacos with Avocado Cilantro Sauce, I decided to make a brand spanking new lentil recipe, cause can you ever have too many lentils? The answer is no.
So here we go my friends. All you need is 15 minutes, a few go-to ingredients, and boom, flavour-packed Sweet Korean Lentils are on the table. These lentils are sweet and mildly spiced, a serious nod to Korean BBQ.
These Sweet Korean Lentils reminds me of when I lived in LA, and my roommate Ashely and I would frequent this little Korean restaurant. They always served this sweet and tangy beef. Now obvi I wasn't going to make that, but this is why I love lentils, anywhere a recipe calls for ground beef, you can pretty much sub lentils. A much healthier and friendlier option, and oh so delicious.
To make Sweet Korean Lentils: mix all the sauciness together. Um, hello delicious looking sauce!
Sauté up some onion.
Side note: Are you supposed to use signed wooden spoons, or are you supposed to display them? I decided the spoon would have a lot more love and appreciation if it was used in my daily life, so I am going to cook with it. My mom sometimes wishes I was more sentimental... oops.
Now add your lentils and sauciness to the pan.
Cover and simmer for around 10 minutes until the lentils are cooked and tender, and most of the sauce is absorbed.
Serve over rice and garnish with green onions and sesame seeds. I also used this as a lettuce wrap filling and my oh my it was scrumptious.
A big final thank you to Canadian Lentils and Chef Michael Smith for having me. ❤️
Bon Appetegan my friends.
(click stars to vote)
Sweet Korean Lentils
Servings: Servings
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Ingredients
For the sauce:
- 2 cups water
- ¼ cup soy sauce (or gluten free tamari)
- 2-3 tablespoons brown sugar
- 2 cloves garlic,, minced
- 1 inch piece of ginger,, minced
- 1 teaspoon sesame oil
- ½ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
For the Lentils:
- 1 tablespoon light oil, (such as canola, vegetable, or peanut oil)
- ½ yellow onion,, chopped
- 1 cup red lentils
- 2 green onions,, chopped
- 1 tablespoon sesame seeds
- Cooked rice for serving
Instructions
- In a medium bow, mix together all the sauce ingredients.
- Heat the oil in a skillet over medium heat, then add the onion and sauté for a few minutes until the onion softens and begins to brown. Now add the lentils and the sauce. Cover and bring to a gentle simmer until the lentils are cooked and tender, and most of the liquid is absorbed, about 8 to 10 minutes.
- Serve by spooning over rice, and garnishing with the green onions and sesame seeds.
Nutrition
⭐ Did You Make This Recipe?
I’d love if you left a rating and comment, it helps others find the recipe and makes my day! 💕Bon appetegan!
Sam.
Nancy says
Can I make this without the sugar?
Rose says
Bit mushy but tasty enough that I’m going to keep playing around with it to figure out what works for my lentils 🙂 my first hack is using half dark soy sauce and half light soy sauce, great dark brown colour
Amy Munroe says
Delicious and easy to make! The second time I made it I scooped it into Romaine Lettuce leafs and ate it like a lettuce wrap. Easy way to add a green to your meal.
Kim says
Wow, this dish is amazing! Definitely a keeper! I didn’t have red lentils so I used brown and cooked them longer. The flavors are awesome. Thank you for sharing this recipe!
Kris says
Something went wrong. It didn't get as dark as yours. It was more a pale orange. what did I do wrong?
Sam Turnbull says
I just used a darker soy sauce, that's all. 🙂
Diana says
Unfortunately the red lentils didn't work for me. I followed the exact measurements & liquids but mine turned out soggy and unappealing in colour. Red lentils aren't meant to hold it's shape so naturally it became mushy but when I used green lentils it turned out amazing. (The picture above even resembles green lentils, no?) Otherwise the dish is very tasty and I'll definitely make again!
Sam Turnbull says
In order to keep the red lentils from getting mushy, you must keep it at a very gentle simmer and not stir it too much. The picture is with red lentils 🙂
Sarah says
WOW! Just starting out and signed up for your emails! I found this simple and tasty looking recipe and decided to give it a go... so easy and so good! I'm very impressed and feeling a little less apprehensive about becoming vegan/plant-based. Thanks!!
Matt says
So good and so easy!
Jennifer R says
I wish there were more stars!
I found you and this recipe a few weeks ago and OMG. The first night I made this, I had dreams about it! I’ve tried it so far with red, brown and black lentils. I like the red for speed and black for texture. Either way, this has become a staple recipe.
Sam Turnbull says
Aww that's amazing, Jennifer!! I love that you're dreaming of lentils! Haha 🙂
Bev L. says
This is one of my go to recipes. Love it for dinner or lunch. Such savoury goodness!
Deb Dye says
Wow! Its the best GRAVY!
Thank you so much for this recipe! My 24-year-old son moved back home and announced he was Vegan. Well of course I flipped out over that because, I'm used to making some sort of dairy filled and meat dinner every night for the 5 of us in our house, including my husband, he's from Montana, nuff said, and my mom who now lives with us too. We usually have meat, like burgers, steaks or on tacos or the like, nightly.
My son asked us to have meatless Mondays for him every week, so I went looking for recipes and found your website and signed up for your email. I've already used several of them and they're all great!!
I made this recipe, but in the end, it turned a bit to mush. But no worries it was great on rice like your recipe, we all loved it.
And the next day, I had plenty of leftovers because, I really like tripled the batch. And I didn't wanna waste that yummy goodness. So the next day, I needed a gravy for my sons vegan meatballs to matchup with my mom's homemade beef meatballs for the rest of us, like she's made for years. So I took the leftover lentil mixture, pureed it up with some water, little evoo, and a tiny bit cornstarch, in my magic bullet blender, heated in a pan with mushrooms and wala it was the best damn gravy I've ever had!! Also letting you know I grew up with gravy and pasta sauce on everything that my mother made. You'd know that by just looking at me.
Now I finally have an awesome vegan brown gravy type recipe and I thank you lots!! And my husband loved it and my mother loved it, and it was crazy to see! So I'm using this as my brown gravy for any meat when gravy is needed for now on!
Oh... maybe you can even perfect this gravy more and turn it into one of your recipes to hand out to everyone. Thanks again!
Sam Turnbull says
Haha amazing!! So happy you're enjoying all of my recipes Deb! Next time if you're cooking red lentils, just be very careful to keep them at a low heat and check them so they don't get overcooked and mushy. 🙂
Arden says
I made these tonight and they were awesome!! After simmering for 10 minutes it still had a lot of liquid. Simmered a little longer and then ended up adding a little cornstarch and water. To thicken. Worked great!!! Will definitely be making this again!!
Carolyn says
I made this meal while on my lunch break and it was oh so ever delicious
Shelley says
I don’t usually leave reviews but i had to with this one. The flavor is amazing. I make it twice per week because family loves it. The red lentils have been too mushy (tried twice) and be take way longer Forbes me then 10 min. By the time they are finally soft, liquid has been so reduced and just not right consistency. Now I make with brown lentils, but take well over an hour to get soft, and again, liquid reduces by that point and leave lentils too dry. Next time I make, going to add extra liquid ingredients so it can cook as long as needed to get nice soft texture of lentils. And, I cook in the slightest simmer, so I am not cooking too high of heat. Now sure what umbrellas doing wrong. But it doesn’t stop me from making them!
Shelley says
Sorry for all my typos. Auto spell check changed my words!
Elisa Bremner says
It's a hit! Tonight I made your Korean Lentils and used the tofu crumbles (also your recipe) sautéed with mushrooms as a back up for my veg-phobic 21 year old son. So easy and my husband had thirds so I guess that's a result! Thank heavens I found red lentils when I went out for a panic-buy stock-up the other day. Stay well, Sam!
Sam Turnbull says
So happy you enjoyed, Elisa! Stay well 🙂
Sarah says
Yum! I’ll use less red chili flakes next time; my family can’t handle spice, but I liked the spice level as written.
Sautéed some cabbage and mustard greens with a bit of sesame oil to serve with it. A fast and tasty meal.
Lydia B Fiedler says
I cannot WAIT to make this! Just found you today - loved your post about the show - ha! Thanks for sharing! <3
Sam Turnbull says
I hope you love it, Lydia 🙂
Kerry says
I made these tonight for the first time. I used green lentils instead of red and I knew they would take a bit longer. I had to cook them for almost 40 minutes and there was still a good amount of liquid left in the pan. I wound up draining it and the lentils were mostly mushy and sadly the flavor did not match the intensity of the smell. The color was a light brown and compared to Korean beef I’ve made the flavor was very mild. Any suggestions for what I may be doing wrong?
Amy Reed says
Uhh. Maybe using the wrong lentil?
Heather says
Hi, if I use canned lentils should I drain and rinse them?
Sam Turnbull says
Yes, and omit or greatly reduce the water as the lentils won't absorb it.
Debbie says
I noticed you used red lentils. Could I use green French lentils or black caviar lentils instead?
Sam Turnbull says
You can sub any kind of lentil but note that brown or green lentils tend to take double the amount of time to cook as red lentils.
Martha says
Very tasty!!! First time making this. I cut back on the red pepper flakes and it’s a good thing I did! Half was just perfect for my family. I also had to take the lid off after about 10 minutes as the liquid was still present. Paired with basmati brown rice and broccoli-delicious!!!! Thanks for a new favorite!
Sam Turnbull says
Glad you enjoyed!
Flavia says
This is so good! Even my 4 year old loves it.
I had some Korean red pepper flakes that I bought years ago and I finally have a recipe to use them!
Mélodie says
The taste is great, I like it very much! I only had low sodium soy sauce so I went with only 2 tbsp of brown sugar (and it was a very good idea, it would have been too sweet otherwise). The result I got does not look so much like the picture. It's way less dark and has a bit more of a daal texture. I had to remove the lid after 10 min and let it cook a bit because I had a (very yummy) soup.
This recipe is sooooooo easy to make, I had all the ingredients at home. That's a new staple for me. I'm really happy that I've discovered this. Over a lightly salty rice, it was perfect.
Sam Turnbull says
Glad you enjoyed!
Alvin Black III says
Been loving this recipe since finding it over a year ago! When I made it today, I decided to add seitan in to the cooking lentils, came out great!
Sam Turnbull says
Wonderful!!!!
Jeanie Neverly says
I found this recipe 2 weeks ago, new to plant based diet. OMG! I have made it once a week, had it for snacks and lunch.
I shared the recipe with coworkers who love it as well!
Rave reviews!
Thank you