Sunday, September 05, 2010

Name the recipe?


I found a recipe in an old (1984) British cookbook I've been idly paging through for a few weeks. The recipe was called Lentil Rice and it sounded pretty good. I started picking through my pantry and discovered I was short a few ingredients. My substitutions made it even better than I expected it to be. Now I need to name the recipe and I'm fresh out of creativity. Here's the recipe. I'm taking suggestions for names. (Once I have a name I might have to share this with Bob's Red Mill.)



water for soaking
1/4 cup Bob's Red Mill Vegi Soup Mix
1/4 cup brown rice
Oil for sauteeing
1/2 onion, chopped fine
2 cloves garlic, chopped fine
1/4 teaspoon fenugreek seed
1/4 teaspoon fennel seed
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin (I'd rather have used cumin seed but couldn't find any)
pinch or two of red pepper flakes
salt and pepper to taste
2 cups water

Soak soup mix and rice in water to cover for a half hour to an hour. No longer or it'll turn mushy. Heat oil in saucepan. When the oil is shimmering hot, add onions and garlic and saute until onion is translucent, about 3 minutes. Add spices and continue to saute up to 2 minutes until it's really fragrant. Drain soup mix and rice well, and add to the saucepan. Saute a minute or minute and a half but no longer. Add 2 cups water, stir well to loosen what's gotten stuck to the bottom of the saucepan, bring to a boil, cover, and reduce heat to medium. Let cook without removing the cover for 20 minutes, then check for doneness. Continue to simmer, covered, until it's done. If it is too watery for your tastes, simmer uncovered 5 minutes, stirring frequently.

Serves 2 (meaning I have enough leftovers for another lunch.)

So, anyone care to suggest a name? I'd hate to have to send this off to Bob's just titled Vegi Soup Mix and Rice.

My $3 Craft Challenge Project

I never uploaded the tutorial pictures but I have the final product to show you. I'm not sure the tutorial is necessary. It's fairly obvious what I did. But if someone wants details, I'll be happy to explain what I did. (BTW, I do not ever again want to work with tis kind of fabric again unless it's to piece together finished napkins. Fake satin IS the Satan of fabrics!)



It is, unfortunately, too small for my head. I cut it the right size, but used wider seams than I'd meant to. This is my interpretation of a pillbox hat. I used a strip of posterboard that I had in my paper collection to stiffen the brim, but other than that it's all stuff I got at the Dollar Tree. Well, and thread. I didn't have any thread to match the napkins so I used the closest color I had (brown.) It was really easy to make but I don't think I'll make another one. I'm not a pillbox hat kind of a girl. But if I were, I'd want one in that color.

Have any of you finished your projects yet? I'm thinking of trying another of these for the fall, but will wait until I hear back no how others fared in this challenge.