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In the attached picture you see green lentils which I want to prepare in order to make a Dal. They are obviously dried although it is not mentioned directly on the package.

My question is: Do I need to treat them like dried chickpeas? Dried chickpeas must be unpacked and then stay submerged for around twelve hours to be edible and cookable. Do i need to do the same with the lentils? One lentil has far less mass than a chickpea so I had doubts.

EDIT: I am aware of this possible duplicate but the submitter of the question has not clarified what types of lentils he wants to cook: Best way to cook lentils?

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  • @Luciano I mentioned this possible duplicate in my initial post here long ago, along with an explanation why my post isn't a duplicate.
    – Bruder Lustig
    Commented Aug 21, 2017 at 10:13
  • mostly all lentils can have the same treatment before cooking, hence the duplicate vote
    – Luciano
    Commented Aug 21, 2017 at 12:51
  • The previous question, essentially "do lentils (in general) need soaking?" with an answer "no," seems to cover your question about a specific kind. If lentils in general don't need soaking, yours don't either. So seems like a duplicate to me, despite your notes.
    – Cascabel ♦
    Commented Sep 18, 2017 at 21:04

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Your suspicion is correct about "far less mass than a chickpea" means you don't need to soak them as much. Chickpeas seem to need lots of soaking, but you don't have to soak lentils at all. I guess there are lots of kinds of lentils - the kind you have, the big ones with the skins on; the little peeled orange ones; the smaller dark colored ones with skins on, but I don't know of any kind of lentils that need to be soaked at all before cooking. This is the big advantage of lentils over other dried beans: you don't need to plan so far ahead.

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  • So no matter which type of lentils, they never need to be soaked?
    – Bruder Lustig
    Commented Aug 12, 2017 at 19:09
  • OP ere again, I cooked green lentils two days ago and it worked liked charm. :-)
    – Bruder Lustig
    Commented Aug 15, 2017 at 12:18
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Italy here. Therefore I refer to dried lentils commonly found here. We used to "pre- treat" them like soaking in not cold water etc.

This winter I got multiple packs of IGP (protected geographical identity) lentils from center of Italy. All packs suggest a very simple recipe typical there (it is basically lentils on croutons, to give you a preview of the consistency of what you get. Like beans on toast... ).

All labels suggest to directly go to the pot and cook using

1 liter water for 250 grams lentils. Just a little of salt - the rest to be added to taste.

Cooking time 40 minutes.

We are doing so since, and we're satisfied by the results. Although I don't know if the lentils were superior because skipping the soaking or it was just matter of their quality. Lentils were of green-brown or green sort.

EDIT:

https://cooking.stackexchange.com/a/83790/59209

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