Update: On the 8th of August I had this dish yet again, except I put some hot homemade chili tomato sauce my dad made ages ago stored in the freezer on top of the lentils with some cilantro, and might I say that it was HOT and TASTY. I loved the interplay of the Mexican flair with the earthiness and lightness of the lentils and vegetables, which became Mexican to the max! Try it out by making some sort of spicy sauce with anchos, pasillas, tomatoes, chipotles and some other red chilis, sauteed with garlic minced and onions finely chopped into a salsa rojo rather than a salsa verde that I usually enjoy with a spicy blend of chilis (jalapenos, poblanos, serranos, etc. mixed with citrusy tomatillos and pureed raw).
- BR & Lentils with firey Salsa Rojo!
Well, my parents were out for the day, and I was stuck cooking for myself, since I decided it would be best not to blow my tips solely on food this week. Given my need to get acquainted with my fantastic Zojirushi rice cooker, I used it for all parts of this really, really easy meal. Though, vegetarian, it was complete in its nutritional repertoire in my use of many vegetables and lentils to nourish myself. First off, I made okowa, which is a Japanese dish consisting of brown glutinous rice mixed with regular medium-grain japonica brown rice and veggies to provide a really sticky mass of cooked rice and steamed vegetables.
This is my dream rice dish, since I was able to use carrots, parsnips, collard greens, purple bell peppers, reconstituted shiitake mushrooms, Japanese eggplant, green onions, and garlic, seasoned with soy sauce, sake, and sesame oil to my liking. I just rinsed the rice and threw everything into the rice cooker (with correct proportions to allow for the rice to cook and the veggies to loose their watery goodness into the already rich cooking liquid. I think what really tied this dish together was my use of the mushroom stock I made from reconstituting the mushrooms in vegetable stock, which provided an extra earthy goodness to the final product and only added to the brownness of the nutty rice. Nutty rice and earthy mushrooms and root vegetables just cry out to be placed together, and my stomach cries out for that combination rather often.... I am a sucker for root vegetables, leafy greens, and brown rice. Mushrooms are always amazing, and really add a meatiness that can only be umami to vegetarian dishes.
- brown rice shiitake okawa
To account for the lack of protein in that dish, I created another recipe based on a lentil pilaf that included many of the same vegetables as the rice, except with more parsnip, some tomatoes, parsley, extra collard greens, and no Asian seasonings like the soy sauce. This was meant to be an almost neutral leaning towards Mediterranean dish that complemented the earthiness of the rice okowa without taking away from its Asian flair with a bunch of different herbs. The parsley really added little flavor except a certain herbal note that really accompanied the lentils well for my taste. I should have taken a picture of the rice cooker with the vegetables taking up more volume than the lentils and the water combined. Fortunately, almost 2 hours of cooking puts root veggies and collard greens in their plaes, steamed in vegetable stock. The final dish was a hearty combination of lentils and vegetables with enough of each in every bite for my taste. Of course, I'm the one who wants to have vegetables in every bite. In fact, I felt that the rice could have used more, but as a side dish to the lentil/vegetable combination, it worked very nicely.
I don't really have recipes, since I just kind of threw together what was in the fride and the pantry. If you don't have glutinous brown rice, white rice works, and medium grain works fine, but the combination of short/medium grain allows for a nice sticky texture without becoming a solid, glutinous mass. Just use less water than you would for normal brown rice, especially since it's glutinous AND the vegetables cook off a lot of water. Use mushroom stock to keep with the vegetarian vibe, and make it at home from dried shiitakes since that provides a really great base on which the rest of the flavors can be built and compiled. If you have enough mushrooms and stock, use them with the lentils to create a foundation for both dishes in tandem for one meal.
- lentils & veggies in the rice cooker
