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It is not unheard of for small pebbles, or pieces of the pod the lentils came in to find their way into the drying process. There is also occasionally a lentil (or bean) that was a bit dodgy before it was dried. These usually appear as discolored lentils, which should be thrown away. It is rare for more than three or four to appear in a pound of lentils ...

Depending on the temperature in your fridge, cooked lentils will be safe to eat for 2 to 5 days when using a sealed container, filled with the cooking water. By immersing them, your lentils won't dry out and they'll be ready to use whenever you need them - just drain the amount you need. If you've got sufficient freezer space you could also freeze the ...

The actual action of soaking is what does most of the work. Most legumes have complex oligosaccharides, a type of complex sugar. Digestion of this complex sugar is what causes flatulence. By soaking your beans will help remove some of this excess sugar. Be sure you discard the soaking water. Though it is often said that adding baking soda helps I've yet ...

The recipe you linked to has lentils in it. Most recipes with lentils tell you to rinse and drain them, and also to pick over them for stones. Lentils are seeds from a plant, and during their harvest, it's not uncommon for small stones to be picked up as well. (Same goes for rice and any type of legume.) If you didn't check for any small stones before ...

In addition to what rheone said, I have noticed that using baking soda kind of softens food. A characteristica example of this is Use baking soda in green vegetables to keep them green after cooking is done which isn't the best solution because just a minute is enough to miss it and eat a soup instead of green vegetables. I have also noticed that if ...

I do not have any information on the change itself, but neither does that claim in Wikipedia. However, I would refer you to the discussion page of lentil's and read over the community's discussion regarding the article's nutrition claims generally. They are not pleased with many of the claims, and have been active in moderating it. Also of note, the claim ...

It's been years since I've cooked lentils, and I haven't done it very often, but I'm going to guess that the issue is that like other legumes and grains, you can end up with a gummy exterior, so by rinsing it in cold water, you both stop the cooking process and rinse off any starch that might've been over gelatinized. If you hadn't done it, the most likely ...

Red lentils have no skin and are thus more absorbent. They literally sucked up the wee bit of water clinging to them along with their neighbors. Surface tension of the water couldn't be broken by the light-weight pulses. When crumbled apart, the brick doesn't feel pasty, no? Next time maybe pour lentils into water; either way, no harm to finished dish.

The following site has a few recipes under the header of Basic Tempering Dal Recipes: http://www.ifood.tv/network/basic_tempering_dal/recipes Being described as "basic", these won't be using any really special spices; but on the other hand, from what you said at the start of your question I'm going to assume you're not in India yourself and that therefore ...

Yes, they will take up some of the flavor of the stock. However: 1) the flavor will be subtle and hard to detect, especially if you are spicing the dal heavily (as you usually do with Indian food) 2) it's not that authentic, since Indian food is often vegetarian. Personally, I'd freeze the chicken stock and use it for something else. Or make Turkish ...

Almost certainly: lots of recipes online. I'd go with the 'porridge' or 'brown rice setting' if your cooker has it. Concensus on water ratio seems to be about same as for rice. Here's a question which lists More things you can cook in a rice cooker. With a quality cooker, you can also make baked beans and tasty onion soup.

That's a good question, and I have no direct experience in using calcium chloride, however looking at the ingredients for many canned lentil products shows calcium chloride being a very common ingredient, so I would suspect it may work. It's got a very salty flavor though, so don't go overboard. As a counterpoint adding salt to lentils during cooking is ...

Lentils cook fast and so don't require preboiling. The dal recipes that I have used cook the lentils in the liquid until it is absorbed. I would recommend using a recipe that cooks the lentils in the stock directly to include all of the flavor. If you insist on preboiling then I would agree with others that you should use the stock for something else.

It sounds like you pretty clearly had too much water, and maybe cooked too long and too hot. As for what to actually do: using a microwave doesn't mean you can't be flexible. You can figure out how to cook them the same way you could figure out how to cook many things in the microwave. Start just enough water to cover the lentils. Cook it on high until ...