Kitchery (Monsoon Rice) This can stand on its own as a one dish meal. It's a complete vegetarian protein and loaded with veggies as well. Note, if I had sent you a Kitchery recipe before in an email, this one is different, and vastly superior in my opinion. 8 C water 1 C basmati rice 1 C toor dal (dried split pigeon peas - they probably have this at whole foods in bulk or 2# bags, but I get mine at an indian store in 5# bags) or dried yellow split peas (see notes) 1 medium onion chopped and 1 clove of garlic minced OR 1/2 tsp hing (asafetida powder) (see notes) 1/2 C vegetable oil or ghee (see notes) 2 medium tomatoes cut into big (1"-1 1/2") chunks. about 1 cup of each of the following vegetables cut into 1" pieces: Califlour, Carrots, Radishes, and Green Beans 1/4 cup raisins 1 cinnamon stick (about 6 cm long) 1 TBS grated ginger 8 whole cloves 7 whole green cardamom pods 1 to 3 whole green chilies 2 tsp cumin seeds 1 tsp turmeric salt to taste cillantro to taste You need to plan ahead to make this. Pick through and rinse the lentils. Soak them for 3 hours ahead of time and then drain. Let them sit out for a couple more hours so they dry off. Dry roast (no oil!) the lentils over LOW heat in the biggest frying pan you have. Stir them regularly. After about 10-15 minutes you should notice they have darkened a few shades and gotten a bit more red in color. Once that happens remove from the heat and set aside. In a big non-stick pot, stir fry the califlour, carrots, and radishes (but not the beans) in the oil over medium-high heat until they start to brown on the edges. Remove them with a slotted spoon or kitchen tongs and set aside. Now over medium-high heat in that same pot stir fry the onion in the oil for about 3 minutes, then add the garlic and stir fry for 30 seconds more. If using asofedita instead just fry it for 30 seconds. I will explain more about this in the notes. Add the cumin seeds and stir fry for about 30 more seconds until they start to brown. Add the cloves, cardamom, cinnamon, ginger, and green chiles, and stir fry for about 30 more seconds. Throw in the tomatoes, and toss around for about 30 more seconds. Add the water, lentils, rice, raisins, and turmeric. Bring it to a boil. Cover and simmer over low heat about 15 minutes. Add the califlour, carrots, radishes, and green beans, cover and cook about 45 minutes until the lentils and rice are done and the water is fully absorbed (it should be thicker then a stew). You can ignore it for the first 30 minutes, then you need to check and stir it every 5 minutes to make sure it's not sticking. Actual cooking time will depend on how old your lentils were and if you shortcutted on the soaking time. When it's done add the cillantro and the salt to taste. Notes: Rememeber when you are eating this that there are whole cloves, cardomom pods, and chilies floating around in it. Try to pick them out before you chew on them :) If you do eat them it won't hurt you but you will get the intense flavor of them (if you use really hot chilies, then you will get a big surprise!). Ghee is clarified butter. It's the traditional ingredient, but a no-no if you want to go lactose free. You can use canola oil, or you can use smart balance (trans fat free margarine). Smart balance actually works very well and tastes better then canola oil :) Just make sure you use the "regular" kind, not the low fat. Hing (asofedita) is this smelly yellow powder you can get at an Indian store - smells like super concentrated garlic and onions only worse. About 1/2 teaspoon of it tastes like a medium onion and a clove of garlic when used in food as described above. Europeans never really used it as a spice - they just used it to ward off evil (that's how potent it smells). Indians who avoid onions and garlic use it as a replacement. (Certain religious groups avoid it always, and most others avoid it when the food is to be offered at a temple - because they are supposed to evoke passion/lust). Freshly opened containers of hing stink very badly. You will want to put them somewhere with ventalation so they can get aired out before you put it in your spice cabinet. It does taste much better then it smells, and cooking it de-stinks it. That said, unless I am visiting an Indian friends house during a puga (religious service), I typically use the onion and garlic as a little bit of passion or lust isn't a bad thing IMHO... and onions and garlic are good for you. Indians would only use yellow lentils in this if feeding this to children and/or sick or old people. Think of yellow lentils as baby food :) But if you can't get pidgeon peas they will work. (you may have to soak them a bit longer).