When Lisa gave me the Ottolenghi cookbook a few months ago, I had no idea that I’d end up quite this smitten with it!
It has a huge range of interesting recipes, including this one for kosheri – Egyptian lentils and rice. I modified the recipe slightly to finish the cooking process in the microwave, but only because I needed space on the cooktop for other dishes.
- 300g green or brown lentils
- 200g basmati rice
- 40g unsalted butter
- 50g fine vermicelli or egg noodles, broken into 4 cm pieces
- 400 – 500ml water*
- ½ teaspoon grated nutmeg
- 1½ teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1½ teaspoons salt
- several grinds of black pepper
- 4 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 large onions, thinly sliced
* The original recipe specifies 400ml water, but I found that I needed 500ml to cook my Basmati rice (apparently it varies enormously from region to region). Check your rice halfway through the cooking process, and if it looks like the liquid has been completely absorbed, add a little more.
1. Pick over the lentils well, removing any debris, then wash in a sieve under cold running water. Place in a large saucepan and cover with lots of cold water and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer until the lentils are tender but not mushy (about 20 minutes). Alternatively, you could use drained and rinsed tinned lentils.
2. Rinse the rice well in a sieve under running water and leave to drain. In a large saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat and then add the uncooked vermicelli and fry until it turns golden brown. Add the drained rice and stir well to coat with the butter.
Original instructions at this point are to then add the water, nutmeg, cinnamon, salt and pepper to the pan. Bring to the boil, cover and then reduce the heat to a minimum and simmer for 12 minutes. Turn off the heat, remove the lid and cover the pan with a clean teatowel before replacing the lid and allowing the rice to sit for a further five minutes.
What I did was transfer the fried rice and vermicelli to a microwave-proof container, added the water and spices and cooked the rice in my microwave for 5 minutes on high, and then 16 minutes on medium (timing will vary depending on your microwave).
Alternatively, I think that you should be able to put everything into an electric rice cooker, adjusting the amount of liquid if necessary and cooking the rice in there.
3. While the rice is cooking, heat the olive oil in a large frying pan and sauté the onions over a medium heat until they turn a dark brown. Drain them on a kitchen towel.
4. Once the rice is cooked, stir in the lentils and most of the onions, reserving a few for decoration. Adjust for seasoning if required.
This dish is traditionally served with a spicy tomato sauce, but we had it with a chermoula chicken tagine!
Click here for a printable version of this recipe
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Addendum: I started writing this post a couple of weeks ago, and since then I’ve made this dish again. Second time around I cooked it on the stove as instructed, using egg noodles and two x 400g tins of lentils (rinsed and well drained). I needed at least 500ml water, and figured out that the most important part of the dish is the fried onions – don’t skimp on them!
Fig Jam and Lime Cordial 
All I can say is ‘Oh my goodness’! I am so making this today…how can I not with so many of my favorite foods and seasonings in one dish. I have just bought some brown basmati rice which I have never made before…I think this is just the dish to try it with! Thanks for sharing…I think the hubby is getting tired of having potato splats, so this should be a good replacement! ;-)
Cindy, that’s the same reason I was drawn to it as well – I adore lentils, rice, egg noodles and fried onions! I don’t know how much liquid you’ll need for brown basmati – you might need to add more during the cooking process. Surprisingly the large amount of cinnamon doesn’t make the dish overly sweet!
This sounds very interesting C. Although I’m not a huge fan of lentils so not sure it’s for me.
wow, this looks good! my stepmom is Egyptian, and she maks hers with little elbow macaroni instead of rice and serves it with carmelized onions on top.
That looks really lovely Celia – lots of different interesting textures and flavours. I bought ‘Plenty’ a while ago but haven’t really had chance to look in it very much. If it’s anything like as good as his other cookbook seems to be I ought to get round to bookmarking some recipes!
Dan, the lentils are a pretty important part.. :)
Dana, thank you – that’s interesting to know! I suspect this is one of those dishes with a thousand variations. Does your stepmom serve it with a spicy tomato sauce? That’s how the recipe was originally written.
C, I’ve got that book on order – waiting for it to arrive from amazon!
This looks delicious!
This sounds like a really delicious side dish (or light lunch?). I think I’ve made something similar from a Delicious magazine once but I think it was a bit of a cut down version. I bet the onions add lovely sweet/caramel flavour, I can see they’d be important.
I keep reading about the Ottolenghi cookbooks and had a really quick flick through one the other night. I think I can feel a purchase coming on.
Brown basmati rice & lentils. This recipe has actually got me thinking I’d like to give it a go – even though I’m not such a huge fan of lentils either, but it just looks too good not to try. Thanks for the recipe.
I jus adore this cookbook and everything I have made from it has been an instant hit.
Yottam Ottolenghi has just released his new book, “Plenty”, whhich is all vegetable recipes and equally fantastic.
Deb, thank you, it was! :)
Sarah, I have so many cookbooks that I’ve never cooked from, but this one has become an instant favourite. Since receiving it only a few months ago, I’ve made about half a dozen dishes from it. I really would recommend it – judging from your blog, our tastes aren’t too different, so you might really like it too! :)
Anna, the basmatic started white – it’s coloured from the spices! :) Perhaps you could try it with less lentils?
Amanda, thanks for that – Plenty is on its way here, and I’m hoping it will be as exciting as the first book has been!
Did I say this looks delicious? Soothing, comfort food – mm I love that book too!
Watched The Private Life of Chickens last night with the photogenic farmer, didn’t know that the chicken was the closest living relative to T Rex, did you?
It was you who first put me onto them, Jo, so thank you! Private Life of Chickens? Must go to youtube and see what that’s about.. :)
This looks really good, Celia! Funnily enough, I just bought a big bag of brown lentils from the health food shop to try and get into the habit of eating them more often and this looks like a great place to start… I like the idea of cooking it up in the rice cooker – especially since our microwave door has started locking us out..so frustrating!! It. Just. Won’t. Open!
Oh, and funny images of the chook dome…do they come with a bucket of grain? I find a 6ft long bamboo stake invaluable for ‘herding’ the flock…”go go gadget arms!” :)
@ Joanna – I always thought chicken feet looked kind of prehistoric..hubby and I always joke about it! :)
Wow this recipe sounds really interesting! It looks amazing and sounds really healthy, too. I think it will be wonderful for the weekend lunch.
Tes, thank you!
Christine, if you look at it pragmatically, the recipe is really just cook the lentils and onions separately, then fry the noodles and rice, and add liquid and spices to cook. I think once the noodles and rice are fried off, you could then cook the recipe by any steaming method you might normally use – rice cooker, microwave, or probably even baking it in the oven.
Oh, the backyard was a riot yesterday with all the escapees. Luckily I’d thought to shut the gate before we moved them. Four of the girls went happily, but the two least dominant ones just bolted. And don’t forget, we’ve taught them all to fly (as they have to roost at the top of the dome), so it wasn’t just a case of herding them in (though the Gadget arms is a very good idea for next time, thank you!). It didn’t help at all that Small Man got a case of uncontrollable giggles…
In our house, we always remind ourselves that the chickens are direct descendants of dinosaurs!
Brown is the new rice!
So people keep telling me, but the Chinese girl in me has trouble giving up the white stuff! :)
I don’t know how I missed this post!
I LOVE lentils, basmati rice and Egyptian recipes.
And I am making this for dinner tonight!
Thanks, Celia- I do love your shared recipes.