I
had bought a big bunch of chard, which doesn’t keep very well, so
was looking for another recipe using it. I have, in my collection, a
recipe for a baked rice and spinach/chard (with cheese and eggs);
I have a recipe for whole lentils and spinach/chard; I have several
recipes for lentils and rice, but to my surprise, I realised that I
had none that combined all three. I therefore decided to create a
recipe which would. My lentils and spinach recipe is vaguely Middle
Eastern, so I decided to make this one vaguely Middle Eastern too,
but with the spices giving it a ‘lift’ rather than dominating.
There is plenty of precedent for this: lentils, in one form or
another, and rice are frequently combined from the Eastern
Mediterranean’s Mojadarra, through
Iran’s Pulao and
Egypt’s kushari
to India’s
(similarly-named) kitchari:
I dare say that there are a zillion recipes similar to this,
available on the Internet.
This
is much simpler than most of those I’ve just mentioned, and I was
very pleased with the result – there is just enough seasoning to
stop it from being bland, which is what I wanted, this day. It’s
also quick and easy to make. When one buys Swiss chard, it tends to
come in fairly large quantities and while the green part disappears
in much the same way as spinach does once you cook it, the stalks
are more noticeable. I like the stalks and don’t always want to
put them aside for another meal: this recipe combines both parts of
the chard very acceptably. However, the combination of dark lentils
(I used green), brown rice and dark green chard don’t make for a
visually very exciting meal!
Serves 2
Ingredients
1 medium
onion, sliced
olive oil
1/2 tsp
salt
2 or 3
large cloves of garlic, chopped
1/2 tsp
ground coriander
1/2 tsp
ground cumin
1 tsp
harissa powder
1 tsp
za’atar
1/2 cup
whole green lentils
1/2 cup
brown basmati rice
Swiss
chard – about 5 or 6 large leaves.
black
pepper
Method:
- Slice the onions as you prefer – I did them fore and aft rather that in half moons – and add them to the pressure cooker, together with a generous amount of olive oil. Sprinkle over the salt and fry until they are softened, as brown as you wish.
- Add the chopped garlic, cumin, harissa powder and za’atar and mix well. Fry for a minute or two until the spices are fragrant.
- Now add the lentils and rice and mix until they are coated with the spice mixture. Add a cup of water, put the lid on the pressure cooker and bring up to pressure. Cook for 7 mins.
- While this is happening, trim the base of the chard stalks and then cut them away from the leaves. Chop the stalks into 1cm/1/2 in pieces and set aside. Put the leaves in a stack and slice them four or five times lengthwise. Then cut these across into narrow strips.
- Let the pressure reduce at room temperature. Open the lid and stir the contents. If the mixture looks too dry, add a couple of tablespoons of water. Then put all the chard into the pressure cooker, on top of the rice-lentil mix. Bring up to pressure for 1 min and let the pressure come down naturally.
- Season with generous amounts of black pepper and serve hot.
Notes:
- If you don’t have green/Puy lentils, then use beluga or small brown lentils. The big, flat brown lentils won’t give as pleasant a result and split lentils will end up a mush. Mung beans could be used at a pinch.
- If you don't have za'atar, use dried thyme instead.
- If you have no harissa, use some form of chill.
Variation:
- Add red chilli flakes or a chopped red chilli for a hotter dish.
- Some chopped carrots would go very well in this recipe and make it a little more colourful, too.
You will find many more rice recipes here
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