I am often puzzled by modern life.

To be fair, potato soup isn’t just potatoes, carrot soup isn’t just carrots, pea soup isn’t just peas.

 

Which brings me to my point, if it tasted of lentils it would be rubbish.
Just like pasta, if it tasted of pasta it would be rubbish.

I tend to eat things that taste of what they are.

 

I'm not sure @pete is going to be converted to the idea of lentils as a food stuff.

Personally I think anything that needs lots of soaking and then lots of cooking was not designed by nature with human consumption in mind. Why such a vast proportion of the world's population got hooked on rice is a mystery. Labour and water intensive to grow, needs lots of boiling, tastes of nothing, and is low on nutrients!

 

@ViewAhead, red lentils (and , I think, green ones also) don't need soaking an cook in about 20 minutes.
I used to make lentil soup with stock from cooking a gammon joint and carrots, onions, celery and a bay leaf. But the salt content is probably quite high.

 

Part of my very restricted diet is to be gluten free @ViewAhead and rice is a staple. If you look at just about everything prepacked in your kitchen including biscuits, mustard, tin foods etc. you will find it all contains one of the four grains - wheat, barley, rye and oats. I also use rice flour for baking.

Ingredients on packaging can't be trusted either. It took me quite a while to work out that supposed gluten free oats in biscuits was an item making me ill too.

 

I bake gluten free recipes with my version of cup for cup replacement. It is a combo of rice, potato and corn flours plus some starches and xanthan gum. I use it to make trays of cookies at Christmas for those who are celiac. It is interesting how hard it is to mimic the flavour of traditional recipes.

I like cooking my rice with spices in the water to give it a boost. And rice pudding. Yum!

 

I was typing the word 'CHOYSIA' ... you know, that plant ... and the spelling thing that underlines everything in red told me it should be spelt 'CHOKSI'
What's that when it's at home ?

I took no notice and carried on spelling it correctly

 

@Sheal, it doesn't surprise me that rice is eaten. What surprises me is how it took hold as a staple across such a wide area, given there are easier things to grow and prepare that are far more nutritious.

 

Usually you get the the option of adding to dictionary, which means next time it will accept your word.

 

Thanks @pete I will have to find out how to do that.

 

I used to make ham and lentil soup quite often, and it started with a ham hough, which made the stock, as well as producing the bits of ham for the soup. Carrots and onions were the main additions, and that was blended with the stock before adding the lentils to cook through, and then the bits of ham. Some peas added at the end too if I felt like it. No other seasoning/flavouring needed, apart from maybe a little pepper. No salt either, due to the ham.