Stovetop picante lentil sauce

1 Servings

Ingredients

Quantity Ingredient
1 teaspoon Cumin seeds, toasted*
2 teaspoons Oil or other sauteing liquid
2 mediums Onions, chopped
5 Cloves garlic, minced
28 ounces Canned crushed tomatoes
¼ cup Small red lentils, rinsed and drained**
1 teaspoon Sugar
1 Fresh green chile pepper, minced
½ cup Picante sauce, medium-hot AND/OR
1 teaspoon Hot chili paste

Directions

Re the request for pizza sauce. I'm not familiar with the flavor of Kraft, but I did want to say that I have recently been very enamored of the "Picante Lentil Sauce" which was recently posted on this list. I think it would be delicious on pizza. It's so thick you really wouldn't need to add any additional toppings. I have been putting it on just about everything and haven't found any place it wasn't great. The original recipe did not involve oil or sauteing and instead called for dumping all the ingredients into a crockpot and simmering for 6 to 8 hours. Since I don't have a crockpot I have made the following adjustments. I would think this would be a very easy recipe to make in bulk and freeze.

In a heavy saucepan, briefly toast the cumin seeds. Remove temporarily.

Heat sauteing liquid in pan and saute onions and garlic until soft, at least 5 minutes. Add the cumin seeds and all the other ingredients, bring to a boil and simmer for one hour or longer. Experiment with chilis for desired flavor. I found that I needed to add hot chili paste, but if you were using it for pizza you probably wouldn't want the sauce that hot.

*The original recipe called for ½ tsp of cumin but I love the stuff.

**The original recipe called for regular brown European lentils. I found that these lentils were definitely "chewy" with cooking for only an hour, so I substituted the smaller red lentils which cook faster. If you want to use large lentils just simmer the sauce longer. Posted to Digest eat-lf.v097.n096 by bgaerlan@... (Barbara Gaerlan) on Apr 10, 1997

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