Sauteed Chicken with Lentils and Alugbati

I first heard about lentils as I read the Old Testament part of the Bible. 

 "And Jacob gave Esau bread and stew of lentils; then he ate and drank, 

arose, and went his way. 

Thus Esau despised his birthright." 

(Genesis 25:34)

"Now it happened, when David had come to Mahanaim, 

that Shobi the son of Nahash from Rabbah of the people of Ammon,  

Machir the son of Ammiel from Lo Debar, 

and Barzillai the Gileadite from Rogelim, brought beds and basins, 

earthen vessels and wheat, barley and flour, parched grain and beans,  

lentils and parched seeds, honey and curds, sheep and 

cheese of the herd, for David and the people who were with him to eat.   

(2 Samuel 17: 27-29)

In my mind, I wondered what lentils were but never really bothered to get to know about it. Just recently, I've seen some recipes with lentils as ingredients and to my surprise, I found some cans in the grocery store. Still I didn't  find time to read about it until my daughter bought a can for a dish she tried lately. I found her left-over lentils in the ref. It has so much semblance to mongo (mung beans). 

I usually cook sauteed mongo with shrimps and ampalaya (bitter melon or bitter gourd) leaves. This is a popular dish in my country that goes well with any fried fish. Alugbati (Basella alba or Malabar Spinach) also makes a very good substitute for ampalaya leaves which has a slightly bitter taste. I'm so used to the taste of mongo with alugbati as it always reminds me of home when I was a child, the dish having been a frequent dish on our dining table. Alugbati is semi-succulent, its stem is reddish purple  and I just love its mucilaginous texture! Aside from its nutritional value, it also has medicinal properties and surprisingly, tastes good as vegetable salad, as well.

Last Sunday, I was about to cook chicken with mung beans and alugbati  leaves but the sight of lentils made me change my mind. So here's a product of another simple and easy experiment from my culinary arts laboratory---

The lentils may not be very visible in the photo. Well, I deliberately didn't use much of it since my kids aren't fond of mung beans, hence, I anticipated they wouldn't like lentils either. A perfect substitute, I just discovered, to mung beans. Lentils don't only taste very much like mung beans, they are also a rich source of proteins.

Interested with the recipe? You may find it at Petitchef. Click here to view.

My husband was speechless eating this new dish... (ssshhhh.... his mouth was full!) LOL!!!

Enjoy your weekend!
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