Colourful Rice With Lentil and Broccoli

May 08, 2021

Colourful Rice With Lentil and Broccoli

I could name this ”The Beauty of Diversity”, since it is made up of a lot of colours or, why not, ”Turing turnovers”.

I made it thinking of Alan Turing, ”Atheist, homosexual, eccentric, marathon-running English mathematician”, as Andrew Hodges put it in his book ”Alan Turing: The Enigma”. To him, to Alan Turing that is, I may owe my life, since his braking the Nazi codes shortened the Second World War by two years and saved some millions of lives, as you can find in a 2012 BBC article.

Difficulty: difficult.

Kitchen tools:
- cutting board;
- knife;
- table spoon;
- teaspoon;
- cooking machine;

- food processor;
- bowls;
- frying pan;
- steamer;
- colander;
- grater;

- spatula;
- garlic mincer;
- vegetable peeler;

- plate;
- cooking rings.

Duration: 2 h.

Serves: 3 (hungry ones).

You need:

For the towers:

- 400 g of white rice;

- 150 g of black rice;
- 240 g of red lentil;
- 400 g of frozen broccoli;
- 2 cloves of garlic (chopped);
- 2 bay leaves;
- 1 carrot (1 diced);
- some parsley (2-3 sprigs, only half chopped);

- 50 g of bread crumbs;

- 1/2 teaspoon of cumin seeds;

- 1 teaspoon of honey (or agave / maple syrup);
- 1 large onion (chopped);

- 500 ml of water (plus water for the rice, almost 1 more l);

- 5 tablespoons of olive oil;

- salt and pepper to taste.

For the dressing:
- 1 can of coconut milk;
- 1/2 teaspoon of Madras Curry;
- 1 tablespoon of black mustard seeds;
- parsley;

- 1 carrot (1 grated);

- 5 cloves of garlic (minced);
- 2 tablespoons of olive oil;

- salt to taste.

Method:
1. Get in the mood.
2. Thank the ingredients for giving you energy and ask for forgiveness from the bees for their enslavement (if you use honey).

3. Place a frying pan over the fire, add 3 tablespoons of olive oil, and let it get hot.
4. Meanwhile, chop the onion and the garlic.
5. Peel the carrots. Dice one and grate the other.

6. Add the onion, the garlic and the diced carrot to the pan and let them get tender.

7. Add the lentil and fry them for 3 - 5 min.

8. Add the water (500 ml) and the bay leaves.

9. Simmer until there is no more water and the lentil is tender.

10. Meanwhile, add the black rice in heat resistant bowl, add salt to taste, cover the rice with water, place it in the first compartment of your steamer together with the broccoli.

11. Add the white rice in the dedicated tray, season with slat and pepper, cover it with water and place it in the second compartment.

12. Set the timer for 30 min.

13. When the lentil is ready and quite cool, remove the bay leaves and place the lentil into a food processor.

14. Season with salt and pepper, add 1 teaspoon of honey, 2 tablespoons of olive oil and whiz it to a perfect paste.

15. Place it into a bowl, add the breadcrumbs. Mix it. (It should be a firm paste, not a liquid one.) Set aside.

16. Mince the rest of the garlic. Chop half of the parsley.

18. In a medium sized bowl, add the coconut milk (after you have spun the can as the crew of Serenity spun over Miranda).

17. Add the Madras Curry, the minced garlic, the parsley, 3/4 of the grated carrot, 2 tablespoons of olive oil, the mustard seeds. Season with salt. Get them together to a nice dressing. Set aside.