A cool thing happened the other day.  I was cooking away and the doorbell rang.  B, our new next door neighbour was at the door.  She was holding a quiche.  A couple of months ago when they moved in next door with their adorable little J, we took over some cupcakes.  A little something to welcome them to the area and also to butter them up so that they can check in on our house if we're away... ;-) You know how it goes.  So, B decided to reciprocate by bringing over this yummy quiche.  So Sweet!!!  And Yummy!!!


So, B and I were chatting about life and cycling (they are a big cycling family - like BIG) and food and parenting and running and... stuff.  I was kinda smelling something funny but D was sitting right in front of the stove and I thought that for sure if something was burning then he would catch it.  Well, he didn't catch it.  I would say that I lost about 1/3 of this recipe because I let it burn.


Dumb.  However, it was burnt over a great conversation though, so... silver lining? 
Here's another bit of silver lining.  This recipe is HUGE.  Like way too huge.  If you want to feed a large gathering of people maybe.  Say, like a wedding reception, family reunion or large birthday party.  We honestly could never have eaten it all.  If you'r family is like mine (and aren't necessarily in love with anything containing green lentils then I would cut this recipe significantly.  However, even burnt the taste was decent.  I think that it's a nice side.  Truth be told, there is supposed to be a tomato sauce served along with but I didn't bother with that.  Don't think that you need it if you are serving this along with some other things that are in a sauce.  Delicious and nutricious and, in my case, BURNT!


Kosherie adapted from 'Ottolenghi: The Cookbook'
serves 10 - 12 at least
300 g (2 cups) green lentils
200 g (1 1/3 cups) Basmati rice
50 g (1/2 cup) vermicelli (or spaghettini/capellini) noodles, broken into 4 cm lengths
400 ml chicken or veg stock
1/2 tsp grated nutmeg
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1 tbsp sugar or honey (my addition)
2 white onions, halved and thinly sliced
lots of unsalted butter or olive oil

In a seive, rinse the lentils under cold water and then simmer in salted water for 25 min.  Drain and set aside.
While the lentils are cooking:
Saute the onions (over medium/low heat) in butter, let them take their time adding butter a tbsp at a time only as needed.  Once the onions are caramelized remove from the pan and set aside.


In a large bowl cover the rice with cold water.  Drain the water and set the rice aside.
Melt a couple of tbsp of butter in a large saucepan over medium heat.  Add the vermicelli noodles and heat until they are just turning golden brown.  Add the drained rice and mix well, everything should be coated with the butter.  Add the stock, nutmeg, cinnamon, salt, pepper and honey.  Let it cook, covered for 10 minutes.  Add in the drained lentils and finish cooking, covered, for about another 10 min.  Keep an eye on it so that it doesn't burn (duh!)