Warm lentils served with cool yoghurt and the spice of green onions makes this dish a refreshing and filling side dish or entree.

Armenian Lentils

olive oil

yellow onion, chopped

water

lentils

bulgur

salt

black pepper

lemon, quartered

green onions, chopped

yogurt

Heat the oil in a skillet over high heat; cook and stir the onion in the oil until caramelized, 5 to 7 minutes; set aside.


Bring water to a boil in a pan over medium heat; add the lentils. Return mixture to a boil, reduce heat to low; simmer until the lentils get soupy, about 15 minutes. Stir in the bulgur, salt, and pepper; simmer until water is completely absorbed, about 10 minutes; stir in the caramelized onions. Remove from heat, cover, and allow to rest for 3 to 5 minutes.


Divide lentils into 4 even portions; squeeze one lime wedge over each portion and top with green onions and yogurt.


I am of Armenian descent, and this is very close to my family's recipe. However, the cooking time for the onions is not correct. The onions need to be caramelized! They need to cook until they are brown, at least 30 minutes. Five to seven minutes is not enough. If they are not caramelized, the dish loses its main flavor and will be bland. Also, I recommend caramelizing the onions in a large pot, and then adding the lentils and other ingredients to that pot, not adding the onions to the lentils' pot. That way you don't lose the juices and sugars from the onions.

I loved it, so did my daughter. I did change it just a little, I sauted the onions with fresh minced garlic and I substituted some of the water with an equal amount of chicken broth instead and took out the salt.

I found this recipe very good, as I like lentils very much. Also they are extremly healthy. There were a few simple changes I made to adjust this recipe to my taste. first off, I cut the salt in half, I prefer lower sodium. I also like a little more spice so I added 1/4 tsp curry powder. Lastly I added 1 chopped carrot, for added flavor,texture and color. I accompanied this dish with warm artisan sourdough bread.
I think this is a wonderful dish for a cold day to warm up your family and keep them healthy.  

Pretty good. I'm of Armenian desent and my Mother made a similar dish but more of a soup. My non-Armenian wife loves it and it IS healthy and NO THERE IS NOT TO MUCH SALT!

This recipe just proves that the simplest of ingredients can produce wonderful results.  Absolutely delicious!  I didn’t know I liked lentils so much!   I served this as a side dish to the “Lahmahjoon (Armenian Pizza)” recipe.  I had some lamb bones left from that recipe, which I used to make a stock to substitute for the water in this recipe.  I also added a little bit of cucumber and mint to the yogurt sauce, just because I had them on hand.  It was delicious. The ingredients list calls for a lemon wedge, but the directions indicate lime. Either would be delicious, but we used lime.  My kids gobbled this up and asked for more.  I can’t wait to eat the leftovers for lunch tomorrow!  Thank you so much for a recipe we will make over and over!

Far too much salt was added to make acceptable.  More fresh vegetable salads, next time! Thank you.

I had my doubts about this dish up until the final taste test before serving it, but the lemon and scallions really work wonders and complete the dish nicely.  I added a carrot cooked with the onions and put some chicken bouillon cubes in the water instead of adding salt.  And instead of plain yogurt, I whipped up a garlic-mint-cucumber yogurt sauce (like tzatziki)

Definitely not pretty to look at but I enjoyed it. I served it with chicken breast and spinach. I put plain non-fat yogurt over it and that added flavor. My husband's opinion was neutral and my teenage son turned up his nose (as he does with anything new.) Did take a little longer to cook than stated.

goes perfect with the "Lebanese Lemon Salad Dressing " salad that someone else posted on allrecipes.

Delicious! Will definitely be making this again. Thanks!

tastes just like the lentils a coworker once made for me :)  Yum!  I cut down both the salt and pepper to 3/4 and still has a very strong pepper flavor. I might try again with other complementary flavors.

My boyfriend is 1/2 Armenian, so I've been trying to incorporate some Armenian recipes into our meals.  This turned out pretty good -- not pretty to look at, but tasty and incredibly hearty.  I used just a little sour cream instead of plain yogurt, upped the amount of lemon used and served with parmesan.  Tasty stuff.

Just ok. This recipe is a good starting point, but it needs more flavor. I added chopped bell pepper and celery as well as cumin, but it was still missing something. I will probably play with it some more and figure out what spices it needs. On the plus side, the yogurt topping is a nice touch-adds a little extra tanginess.

Missing something... warm spices...something. Will try again but with more spices.

I made some changes, but absolutely loved it. I added a clove of garlic, a carrot and a stalk of celery to the onions. After the onions were done I added the water and lentils right to the pan. I also substituted 2 chicken bouillon cubes for the salt. When everything was cooking I realized I didn't have any bulgur so I substituted quinoa. The lemon really adds to it, and is necessary in my opinion. Will definitely make again.

These make a nice vegetarian dinner.  It needs the yogurt topping to cool your mouth a bit, so don't skip it!  It's pretty peppery.

Amazing combination of flavors!  I had a bowl with all ingredients and them one of only lentils (without the lemon, yogurt and scallions) but it was much better with the lemon and scallions.  The yogurt added a creamer texture but was not necessary.

Loved it! I made some major substitutions based on what I had- used red lentils, pearl couscous instead of bulgar, added 3 cloves of minced garlic to the large yellow onion and threw in a cup of chopped cashews with the couscous. I also took another reviewers adjustment and used chicken stock in lieu of 2 cups of water. This was seriously good though, will be making it again.

We thought this dish was delicous and easy to make.  Great touch in adding the citrus at the end... we used lime and it worked perfectly.  I found the salt level to be appropriate. 

Yummy!  I totally forgot the yogurt and green onion, but this was very good anyway.  The carmelized onions really make the dish.

Very healthy, inexpensive, easy-to-make, and tasty! My bf liked it a lot and ate a second bowlful, which means it was good (he's picky). Definitely will be making this again. Btw, lentils + bulgur wheat make a complete protein , for all the vegans/vegetarians. :)
EDIT: I have made this several times. I cook the onions a lot longer than this recipe calls for, and they are delicious. I also recently started adding some chopped mushrooms (cooked only a tiny bit with the onions - and then both the onions and mushrooms go into the lentils at the end).

These are ok, but nothing to write home about. Spicier than I expected.

Great recipe! It needs a little something to take it into 5 star status - but I'll definitely be making it again! And it makes a lot! I would say more like 6-8 servings!

so glad i stumbled on this recipe!  i doubled the recipe and made a few changes.  i only had a white onion and a leek so i used those, and added a few cloves garlic.  i didn't saute them in a separate pan, but used the cooking pot and just poured the water in when the onions were done.  i did add a teaspoon of cumin, some chopped fresh parsley, and some cooked chickpeas as i was using this as a main dish.  i didn't have any green onion, or plain yogurt, or fresh lemon (although all of those would have been excellent) but i was able to sub sour cream for the yogurt and some bottled lemon juice and it was passable.  next time i make it i'll make sure i've got the yogurt and fresh lemon, though, as well as the green onions. the flavor is excellent.  glad i made a double batch!

This recipe, probably more than any other, is the one I keep coming back to.  I probably have made it once or twice a month for the past four years.  Like others, I cook the lentils in chicken broth and leave out the salt and pepper, and I use lime juice instead of lemon.  I also use a ton of regular onions (about 6-8 medium onions for a big soup pot's worth) and leave out the green onions, but that's mostly for reasons of simplicity.  We also usually don't add the yogurt anymore, since we like it as is.  This recipe has the trifecta: it's quick, healthy, and cheap.  Oh--and I often don't need to go shopping at all for this recipe, if I have onions on hand.  I love it!  It's a really great go-to recipe, and the leftovers are great too!

This was an enjoyable and different way to have lentils. I added some extra flavors - garlic, cumin and turmeric (not sure they are particularly Armenian, but they are flavors that I like to add to dishes). Tasted really nice with the yogurt and lemon.

These were great! I used a cube of chicken stock seasoning (makes 2 cups of broth)in the water for the lentils, cooked them for 5-10 minutes longer, and estimated the amount of additonal salt and pepper in step 2. I didn't have any bulgur, but this was great without it.

My husband and I really liked this recipe. The flavor was a lot better than the plain lentils we had recently. We did not add the yogurt.

Delicious &amp; simply tasty lentil recipe. I didn't have Bulgaria but would like to try it with sometime.  Sour cream would work as a substitute for natural yogurt.  Yummy!

This dish comes together easily and is quite tasty.

Very delicious, however, if you use chicken broth instead of water, I highly recommend cutting the amount of salt added by about half.

This turned out great! I added garlic to my onions. So filling fed all 3 of is with leftovers for lunch. Would also like to try with some yellow curry powder.

I’ve made this many times. I absolutely LOVE this recipe. Highly recommend it. No changes, as is, perfect.

I made a bunch of changes based on prior reviews and what I had on hand:

Great as written. I will make this again!

armenian lentils

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 35 minutes

Total: 48 minutes

Servings: 4

Author : CASSANDRAHEARN

Ingredients

Instructions

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