Black Beluga Lentils are less bitter in taste than traditional, more mellow like the red but still firmer, unlike the red. I made them in a veggie stew. I just used a bunch of seasonal, mostly root vegetables for this stew. But let me tell you something "fun" I did to get the stew thick like stew instead of soupy.
In the bottom ofthe big sauce pan, on med high heat put in oil, then add base veggies. Just as they're tender, turn heat a smidge lower and stir in finely crumbed yummy crackers of your choice. Be aware that this will proabbaly add salt to the soup, so you can use less seasoning as you go. Stir often, in a figure 8, scoop in stock a ladel at a time and eventually the crumbs will cook and turn into a roux! Add your other main veggies and the lentil rbign to boil then simmer. When soup stew seems ready, add a little bit more thickening by taking some croutons or stuffing mix or homemade crouton (which is what I had) and some ladels of the soup and pureeing all of that, then adding it back into the stew and stirring. This will give it a very nice consistency. But again, becareful of the salt content, so don't add any as you go.
In the bottom ofthe big sauce pan, on med high heat put in oil, then add base veggies. Just as they're tender, turn heat a smidge lower and stir in finely crumbed yummy crackers of your choice. Be aware that this will proabbaly add salt to the soup, so you can use less seasoning as you go. Stir often, in a figure 8, scoop in stock a ladel at a time and eventually the crumbs will cook and turn into a roux! Add your other main veggies and the lentil rbign to boil then simmer. When soup stew seems ready, add a little bit more thickening by taking some croutons or stuffing mix or homemade crouton (which is what I had) and some ladels of the soup and pureeing all of that, then adding it back into the stew and stirring. This will give it a very nice consistency. But again, becareful of the salt content, so don't add any as you go.