A friend from Santiago-super in the kitchen (hey Ms. Alcayaga!)- began an Indian or Thai dish (I'd be more specific if I could recall exactly what) by toasting the rice for 30 seconds in a heated pan--which I did this time, though I'm not sure how different it will make the flavour...but there's an option to try next time rice is on the stove, when the pan is heated, but still dry...
Like my other soup recipes, this one begins the same:
in a heated soup pot, add a tablespoon of butter,
sauté as many shallots as you like,
add 4 servings of whatever kind of bouillon you like, stir together, and
add a couple cups of water,
peel and press in about 7-10 cloves of garlic,
grind in a lot of black pepper and a little salt (or none, if you aren't using the low sodium bouillon that I always use)
Once that's all mixed together, I added:
1 cup brown rice
3/4 cup of medium lentils (though I prefer to cook with the smaller, 4mm ones because they cook faster, these 7mm ones are a fair enough match for the 50 minutes of cooking time for the brown rice)
If I were more sure how carrots worked for me, I would add them...but I'm not, so I didn't, and I'm still avoiding nightshades, or I would happily have added in some green curry paste too.
Add about a litre and half of water to make sure there is enough to cook the lentils and rice, if it's too thin when everything is cooked, just leave the lid off until it reduces itself to your liking.
If I wasn't home on a half day with the kiddos, I'd have been to the market to pick out some green leaves to add into this...but I am, so this soup will have the colour of French Onion Soup-with no cheese! Instead, I added about a tablespoon of dried dill...
Simmer on...
Cheers and chao!
Yard inspiration: for those who can-go outside, and pick a lemon, squeeze it over the soup when you serve it and enjoy-I really like the flavour combination. If you have parsley or cilantro out there...that too- but today, I just did lemon.
ReplyDelete