Spanish-style Lentil stew

Ingredients:

500 grams of lentils (brown lentils of any size)

1 garlic head

2 onions

3 red tomatoes (the riper the better)

1 green pepper

1/2 red pepper

2 carrots

1 Spanish-style cured chorizo

paprika

salt

black pepper

fresh parsley

2 bay leaves

olive oil

water

1. SOFRITO (onion and tomato base)

Chop up 3 garlic cloves, 1 onion, the green and red peppers, 2 tomatoes, and mix in a sauce pan with 1 tsp of salt and olive oil (roughly 3 tblsp. enough so the vegetables don't burn). Sauté for roughly an hour on low heat (almost until it becomes a sauce-like consistency).

2. Once the sofrito is ready, move it to a larger pot along with the lentils (rinsed), garlic head, 1 onion, and one tomato (garlic, onion and tomato should be whole, but well rinsed), 2 carrots peeled and chopped, a little bit of chopped parsley (3 tblsp?), chorizo (chopped), 1 tsp black pepper, and 1 tsp. paprika. Cover with water and heat until it begins to boil, then reduce heat to medium. It will take roughly an hour to cook, make sure to stir from time to time and adjust heat so the lentils do not burn.

This is so far the best lentils recipe I have tried (I found it online) but it turned out really well. I made the sofrito the night before and stored it in the fridge until I had time to cook the lentils. The sofrito is a very important step in cooking the stew as it helps give a lot of flavor (as well as the chorizo).