I'm a little under the weather today, so rather than go out, I whipped up lunch from the rather lean contents of my cabinet:
1 box Near East Lentil Pilaf Mix
1-2 tablespoons olive oil
1/4 cup shallots
handful of pine nuts
Pepper (fresh ground)
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
1/4 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp ginger
handful of Craisins
Saute pine nuts and shallots in olive oil for five minutes. Pour in 2 cups of water and the spice packet; bring to a boil. Add rice and lentils, a TON of fresh ground pepper, and the rest of the spices. Reduce heat to low and cover. Cook for 25 minutes. Toss Craisins on top and cook for an additional 10-15 minutes. Mix together with a fork and stir. Total prep time: 10 minutes. Not having to leave the house: priceless.
Mmm... cumin. Gotta love the "meaty" flavored spice in Vegatarian food.
It actually sounds like it would be very good sans the craisins and with a piece of grilled or marianated chicken breast. How could ya disagree with that!
And here I thought quick-n-dirty Vegan food meant unwashed grass.
Are you eating hell of pulses in the rest of your meals in order to get sufficient protein?
Is a TON of fresh ground pepper your signature touch?
I think you left "time machine" out of your ingredients list. Otherwise it's difficult to see how you squeezed (what appears to be) 35 to 40 minutes of cooking into 10 minutes total prep time.
A TON of black pepper (generally readily available if, alas, not fresh ground) is the key to near all eating (especially when not in control of the cooking).
I see that you like shallots too. They don't get the respect they deserve, often being thought of as just a variety of onion. In fact, their taste is quite different - and better IMO - than that of onions.
"Prep time" means the time you spend actually doing something to the food; aka "active time" in many cookbooks. Total time is different; the lunch takes about 40 minutes total to prepare.
Megan,
Matt Yglesias is lapping you in posts again. Maybe it's the meat he's eating? Do you just not have the energy to keep up?
A quarter cup of shallots? Are you sure? That sounds like a lot to me.
Then you saute them with pine nuts for five minutes? I think everything will be burnt by then. Why not say, "Saute the shallots until soft and clear, adding the pine nuts near the end to brown lightly"?
"One to two tablespoons of olive oil"? Which is it, one or two? Do tell.
I've actually cooked and eaten Near East products before, but not since I got out of college twenty years ago. All of them taste awful, but I think this recipe you give would make the product taste even worse.
For some reason you cook this rice mixture for almost 45 minutes, when I know the package says these things are done in 20 or 30 minutes. My guess is that after 45 minutes of cooking the rice would turn into glue.
I have no idea why, and do you tell your people, you want them to add salt to the thing, over and above what's in the "spice packet" that you've already added. How much g.d. sodium do you think is in the spice pouch? One day's worth? Two days? Do I hear three? My rule of thumb for great cooking: never, never ever add salt to the spice packet. A ton of pepper maybe, but no salt.
You add cumin and (I guess dried) ginger to the pot, which I'm sure is already in the "spice packet." What's the point of adding more?
I have only one word for Craisins. WTF.
Did you really enjoy this meal that you prepared? I know if I made it and had to eat it alone, I would be terribly, terribly depressed.
Personally, I would've added rinsed, canned black beans.
@ Mortimer:
Saute - as I understand the term, caramelizes the food you're cooking.
Sweating the onions is what I think you are describing - which is cooking them till translucent over low/medium heat.
1 box Near East Lentil Pilaf Mix
MM.
If you had a pressure cooker, you could of cut the cost of your highest priced recipe input by 80% and saved the grams of sodium and other processing additives..
http://www.pea-lentil.com/industry.htm
@Mortimer Madler: Written like somebody who has cooked on only one, maybe two stoves, and has only a limited overall familiarity with cooking methods, techniques, and varieties.
"Are you eating hell of pulses in the rest of your meals in order to get sufficient protein?"
I'd think that the lentils do her just fine, and the pine nuts don't hurt, either.