Mujaddara

Hello,

A long time ago (uh, probably about 2 years ago) my (Iain's) mother sent me a recipe for a dish that involved lentils, rice and onions that had turned up on the internet. A very simple affair, but it sounded good. Despite its relatively simple concept, the first several times I and my housemates tried to make it, it seldom neared the superbly scrumptious, no matter how I tarted it up with various spices and seasonings. After finally realizing that something just plain wasn't quite right, that I was missing something in the execution, I put this dish on the back burner for well over a year.

[No, I did not literally place it on the back burner for over year, although now that I typed that sentence, the concept does sound rather amusing. One can hardly have one's deposit reimbursed on a burned down house.]

A couple months ago, Bozzie, who had previously written down my doctored-to-the-point-of-butchery recipe as "Lempke's Lentils and Rice Thingy" in his recipe notepad, stumbled across a different version of the recipe. By a different version of the recipe I mean it was almost the same in almost every way. The main difference was that at this point, we were much better cooks than we had been those almost two years ago. This version got written down as "Esau's Favorite" in the notepad, that being an alternate name for the dish. He prepared it as instructed (although substituting Bulgar for rice), and the results were sublime. I've prepared it a few times since (without the help of a recipe, as I quickly became unable to find the one he used) with Bozzie, with Emily and by myself, and with the basic addition of liberality and patience, the ugly duckling of a recipe had turned into a... oh good grief, I'm not really using that cliche am I?

Lentils and Rice/Mujaddara/Esau's Favorite


Ingredients:
A little more than a cup of dry lentils
About 3/4 of a cup of rice (preferably white) or Bulgar wheat
About a quart of water or broth
2 medium to large onions
3/4 cup olive oil

Music Listened To:
The sound of onions sizzling in olive oil

Procedure:

1. Put the lentils in a pot and cover them with water or broth so that the broth goes at least an inch over the top of the lentils. Cover and set them to boil on medium high heat.

2. As the lentils do their thing, cut the onions in half, and then into thin slices (ideally actually a little thinner than shown in the picture below). Meanwhile, heat up the olive oil in a skillet (yes, you really will want the whole 3/4 cup listed above - the onions and oil are where the majority of the flavor comes from, so don't skimp!) and toss the onions in to sizzle. Turn down the heat and stir them occasionally for the next 20-40 minutes until they are crispy and a nice caramely color. This is one of the ways I went wrong earlier - skimping on the onions (only putting in one, with only a little oil) and rushing them (I think the original recipe said to let them do their thing for about 10 minutes. For the size of the strips I had cut, this was too short a time).


3. Once the lentils have gotten nice and soft, put in the rice and add at least a cup and a half more broth. If this doesn't cause the rice to be well-covered by liquid, add more until it is sufficient. Add salt and pepper, cover and boil on medium heat for 15-25 minutes, or until the rice is soft. With this dish, the softer the better, so gauge your proportions semi-liberally and carefully (I know, it sounds contradictory, right?) and try not to check on it until it is likely to already be done, as uncovering or stirring may interrupt the cooking process. This is the other way in which I went wrong before. I did not always give the rice enough water or broth, and I only let it boil as long as I would boil ordinary rice. The idea is to get it quite soft.

4. Put it together. Add about half the onions and oil to the lentils and rice and stir them in. Use the remaining onions and oil to top each serving. Season with a little salt and pepper.

As you've probably gathered, the procedure is quite simple, but requires a delicate hand. I encourage you to give it a try, and if it doesn't work the first time, try, try ag... more cliches? Seriously?

Lentil-Rice Pilaf and Vegetable Stew

Good morning (and good rainy morning, if you're in the Twin Cities).

If you're feeling chilly and want some cozy comfort food, this will do the trick. Both recipes are easy to prepare and delicious (and can be made simultaneously). I (Emily) am not feeling very wordy at the moment (rain makes me sleepy), so I think I'll just start typing up the recipes now. As usual, feel free to change up the veggies and proportions. Enjoy, all!


Lentil-Rice Pilaf
Ingredients

• 1/2 cup lentils, rinsed
  
• 2 TBS oil (olive or canola) or butter
  
• 1-2 minced cloves garlic
• 1/2 tsp. cumin seeds (or you can sub some ground cumin, but the seeds are great)
• 1 cup brown rice
• 2 cups veggie broth (or water, if you don't have any)
• salt and pepper to taste

Procedure

• Heat the butter or oil in a medium pot over low heat
• Add the cumin seeds, turning the heat up briefly, and sizzle until they blacken (about a minute).
  
• Turn back down to low and add the garlic, cooking for a minute more
• Add the lentils and rice and stir until coated
• Still in the broth and the salt and pepper, bring to a boil, cover, and cook as you would rice until all the water is absorbed. (I forgot to take a picture. Sorry!)
  

Vegetable Stew
Ingredients

• oil for the pan
  
• one medium onion, diced (I used half a red and half a white because that's what we had, but use whatever you like)
  
• one large carrot, chopped
• one 15 oz. can chickpeas (or the equivalent amount of dried chickpeas, soaked overnight)
• half of a large eggplant, or a whole small eggplant, sliced into rounds and then chopped
• a handful or two of frozen peas
• one handful parsley, chopped
  
• 1 cup veggie broth
• 1 TBS tomato paste
• 1 clove garlic, sliced thinly or minced
  
• a pinch of hyssop (can be omitted if you don't have any)
• dash cinnamon
• dash lemon juice
• 1 TBS butter, to thicken
  
• salt and pepper to taste
• chopped almonds, to garnish

Procedure

• Prep the eggplant: Stewing the eggplant along with everything else would likely work, but I find baked eggplant to be less chancy. So chop as directed (or however you like, really) and place on an oiled baking tray. Turn the eggplant pieces to coat in the oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Broil for a minute or two a side, until nicely browned. Watch them very carefully or you will have a load of pitch-black charred eggplant on your hands.
• Oil a medium-large skillet and heat.
  
• Add the onion and cook over medium-low heat for a few minutes until softened before adding the carrot and turning up to medium.
  
• When the carrots are getting soft, add the parsley and chickpeas, along with the garlic. Stir for a moment, then add the broth. Allow to simmer for a few minutes, adding the tomato paste and other spices.
  
• After a few minutes, stir in the peas. As the stew bubbles and the broth is absorbed, gradually stir in little pieces of butter to thicken. When the stew is bubbly and gooey but not exactly soupy, it's done!
  

Scoop some pilaf into a plate or bowl and top with stew. Garnish with almonds and serve warm. Mmm-mmm.

Beans & Rice

Hello everybody,

So, I (Iain) just flipped through the recent Yummies! posts and found that the last time I posted an actual recipe was in... February. Sad. Although I did participate in cooking many of the recent featured dishes. But still, the most recent post I did was a collaborative April fools dada extravaganza, so I'm here to fix that, by posting an EXTREMELY MINDBLOWINGLY DIFFICULT DISH TO MAKE.

So, ladies and gentlefolk, I give to you...

Beans and Rice - Boshenke Style


Ingredients
Beans
Rice

Procedure
Make beans and rice.

Tada!

Okay, for real this time...

Ingredients
1 cup uncooked brown rice (white works too)
2 14.5 oz cans of beans (I like to go with one black, one red)
1 can diced tomatoes
3 or 4 cloves garlic
garlic powder
cumin
chili powder
salt
black pepper
1 tbs olive oil

Optional Ingredients
1/4 to 1/2 white onion, diced
1 red chili, diced
ground coriander
a pinch of oregano
1 green pepper, diced
cheese

Music Listened To
Good lord this was long ago. I'm going to guess... Rodrigo y Gabriela

Procedure

1. Cook the rice (if you don't know how, you boil the 1 cup of rice in just over 2 cups of water in a covered pot).

2. Heat the olive oil in the skillet. If you're using onions, toss them in first to let them soften. Once that's done (or if you're skipping that), put in the beans, preferably drained. The main idea is just to let them heat through, so you don't need to heat them alone for long. Add the garlic and other seasonings and stir them in (choose your own proportions!). Let it simmer to let the flavors meld.

3. If you're using green pepper, go ahead and add it now. Once it's absorbed the water, add the rice and stir it in. Lastly add the tomatoes and let the whole thing heat through. Adjust seasonings as necessary.

4. Serve up in a big bowl and top with grated cheese (right now we have some habanero jack from the coop - intense!)


And that's really all there is to it. You can make this dish super simple, or actually kind of extravagant. It's cheap, delicious and very filling, and usually you get at least one or two good lunches out of the leftovers. Perfect Americorps food, in fact...

Thanks, and see you in like a month and a half!

(Joking)

(I hope)

Aerarbran Stew

Hello denizens of the internet! My post of a na latha (of the day anns a Ghaidhlig, which I am speaking in for no good reason) is a little bit dorky. Today, I bring you the best in regional foods of regions that don't exist!

Perhaps I should explain myself. Here at Yummies Kitchen, we do more than just cook. All three of us are also writers of fiction, and all of our works deal with fictional cultures. The other day, a thought struck us: what do they eat in these places? And then we decided to answer that question by cooking their food!

The culture I was exploring that created this dish is based in a forest with flora and fauna greatly resembling the North Woods. That means there were such things as edible roots, cherries, wild rice and mushrooms, which is exactly what I decided to make this dish out of. Exactly half of us were skeptical of combining these things (Emily and half of me) and the other half were really enthusiastic about it (Bozzie and the other half of me). It actually turned out better than I could have hoped, and the results caused Emily to say "I never would have thought it, but this turned out really well!"

Aerarbran Stew with Cherries and Wild Rice

Ingredients
3 cloves garlic
1 white onion
1 turnip
1 large potato
5 mushrooms
2/3 cup wild rice
1/2 cup rice
2/3 cup dried sour cherries
2 cups Veggie broth
1 tbs butter
salt and pepper

Materials
Knife and Cutting board
Medium-large skillet
Lid that fits over skillet
Wooden Spoon

Music Listened To
Amal and the Night Visitors was playing on MPR, I believe

1. Chop the onion and garlic. Peel the turnip and cube both the turnip and the potato. Slice the mushrooms.

2. Sautee the garlic and onions over low-med heat until translucent. They should taste generally sweet before proceeding.

3. Add turnip and potato. Add the broth, rice, wild rice, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil and simmer 5-10 minutes.

4. Add the cherries and mushrooms. Simmer 10-15 minutes, until the rice is soft enough to eat.


It's really quite a simple recipe, when it comes down to it, but it turned out delicious. It can work either as a main course, or you could have it alongside other dishes. Perhaps you may want to try it for your Christmas dinner, side by side with your favorite savories (or your fave saves as I have just decided I like to call them).

And, as is our philosophy at Yummies!, don't just do it by the book! Improvise a little! I was thinking that next time I'd try to get some wild mushrooms instead of button or crimini. Maybe you're more carnivorous than me, so try putting some white meat in it! Or maybe a splash or white wine? The choice is yours!

We now close with the prayer of thanks I came up with on the bus knowing one would be required:

We thank the forest
We thank the earth
for our food
and for our birth.