Jordanian pilau ... kinda, sorta, maybe...

I knew I fancied lentils and rice, and there were loads of mushrooms - and I bought myself "Veggiestan" for Christmas (oops) - so I thought I would go there for a bit of inspiration - and I found it, then adapted it, a bit, and this is what we had.

I started with the lentils, and put the rice on - then made the casserole - and transferred the rice to the oven.  Then carried on with the casserole - made the yogurt sauce - shredded the kale - drained the lentils - put the kale on to steam - put the seeds in the oven for a minute - mixed the rice and lentils etc - then served.  This scheduling of stuff made it possible to complete - start to finish just within an hour (with some chatting and wine drinking as I progressed).

The proper recipe is in this here book - buy it - http://foratasteofpersia.co.uk/shop/books/veggiestan/  (or from elsewhere... this is the author's blog link, I believe)


But this is what I did.

Rice and lentils

Big handful of lentils - in this case small brown lentils
Big handful of brown rice
olive oil
turmeric
cinnamon
fried onions

1.  Put lentils on to boil in plenty of water (NOT salted)
2.  Put rice on to boil - when it hits boiling point - lid on, in a medium oven to finish.
3.  When lentils are done (keep an eye on the water, add more if necessary) drain.
4.  Five minutes before serving, heat olive oil in big frying pan add cooked rice - turn over quickly add turmeric and cinnamon - about a teaspoon for 4 servings - and a big handful of of fried onions and the drained lentils.
5.  Stir them all together and tip onto serving plate.

Casserole

olive oil
large onion
fennel seeds
cumin seeds
garlic, crushed
chili flakes
red pepper
aubergine (4 yummy small ones from the asian supermarket, but 1 standard one would be fine)
about 12 mushrooms
4 large tomatoes, in chunks

1.  Sautee onions in olive oil, until a bit soft, chuck in spices and garlic (not chili, add that just before you add water/ stock, so that you don't get the pungent smoke).
2.  Chop veg into bit sized pieces and keep adding them to the onions and stir in.
3.  Stir around now and again - add water and stock so that it looks like a stew - this is when the chili should go in.
4.  lid on  - simmer - check it doesn't go too dry - should take about 30-40 minutes.

Yogurt sauce

olive oil
chopped mint
loadsagarlic
natural yogurt
salt
freshly ground black pepper

Mix together, taste ... put in fridge until you are ready

Seeds

I had a bag of mixed seeds - so I sprinkled a layer onto a baking tray and put into the oven for about 2 minutes.

Kale

well, kale .. shredded and steamed for about 6 minutes (from the water boiling)

It is, in some ways, a bit faffy - as you progress through the dishes to get them all to finish up together - but the result is absolutely worth it.  I wasn't slaving the entire hour - I was chatting and checking.. I've had seconds, and am now very very full.
(have put vegan on labels - vegans know perfectly well that they can omit or substitute the yogurt :)  )