Saturday, October 4, 2014

Guiso de Lentejas (Lentils Stew)

This is a traditional dish, not only from Uruguay, but from Latin America as a whole. What I found very interesting about this dish is that is prepared in different ways in each country. Today, I'm going to show how to make an Uruguayan Guiso de Lentejas. We usually prepare this food only in winter time, since it's a dish that it must be eaten very hot.

Ingredients
1 and 1/2 cup of lentils
1 lb of chunk beef stew
8 oz. of tomato sauce
1 yellow onion
1/2 green bell pepper
1/2 red bell pepper
2 potatoes
1 sweet potato
1 carrot
3 bacon strips
salt
1 teaspoon of thyme
1 teaspoon of oregano
2 basil leaves
Bread (I personally like the Cuban bread from Publix)


First place the lentils in a big bowl and add water until the lentils are covered. Leave them for about 10 to 12 hours, so they will get soft. When they are ready, add water and salt to a big pot and boil the lentils. Put them apart for later. Next, chopped the onions and both bell peppers. In a large sauce pan add a little bit of olive oil and saute the onions and bell peppers, until onions turn translucent. Then add the chunk beef stew, bacon (cut into small pieces), tomato sauce, salt, thyme, basil and oregano and let it cook for 10 minutes (stir occasionally). Then add the potatoes, carrots and sweet potatoes (all previously cut into small pieces) until the vegetables turn soft (approximately 20 minutes). Finally add the lentils with the water, cover and let it cook for about 5 minutes.
Served hot with a piece of bread.

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