Rice and Lentils with Asparagus, Snow Peas, Grapes and Candied Hazelnuts

Still in the process of submitting lentil recipes for the lentil recipe competition (why not?). This is a lovely vegetarian dinner dish that you can make with any vegetables that are seasonal and beautiful. With spring just around the corner we have beautiful asparagus in the stores now, some baby potatoes, snow peas and crisp radishes. I combined these with the rice and lentils and added sweet grapes and candied hazelnuts for a surprising layer of flavour and a nice sweet crunch. Pick up a forkful and you never know what you’re gonna get. 

I serve this warm lentil-rice and vegetable dish with a drizzle of hot sauce (not too hot), peanut sauce or with lightly spicy Asian style mango sauce. I serve the sauce on the side to drizzled over once it is plated and ready to serve. I include a simple recipe for peanut chili sauce that you can make yourself but my kitchen philosophy lately is that you don’t have to make absolutely everything from scratch. You can find a good prepared sauce that works for you and use that instead.

I suggest to cook one cup rice and one cup lentils. It yields a larger quantity but you don’t have to use it all at once. You can keep half the rice and half the lentils for another dish.

If you like this recipe I invite you to “like” it on the Canadian Lentil facebook page. Any comments to this post and “likes” to the link on their facebook page are given weight in the competition. I have never submitted a recipe before but I am having fun with it now. I think I have a couple more recipes in mind for submission. Stay tuned.

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Ingredients:

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Rice:

1 cup Basmati rice

2 cups water

1/2 teaspoon salt

Lentils:

1 cup lentils (green, black beluga or French du Puy)

4 cups water

1 teaspoon coarse sea salt

Vegetables:

2 tablespoon olive oil plus a little water for adding later

2 cups asparagus spears, cut into pieces on the diagonal

1 cup snow peas, cut in half lengthwise

1 cup halved baby potatoes

1 cup sweet green grapes, halved

2 radishes, thinly sliced

1/3 cup chopped flat leaf parsley

Salt and pepper

1 cup chopped caramelized nuts, preferably hazelnuts

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Directions:

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Rice:

Rinse the rice well in cold water until water runs clear. Drain well.

Place drained rice in a pot, cover with 2 cups cold water and add the salt.

Bring to a boil, lower heat, cover and cook until the rice is cooked through.

Remove from heat and let sit covered while you cook the rest.

Lentils:

Rinse the lentils well, then place in a pot with 4 cups water and the salt and bring to a boil.

Lower to a simmer and cook until lentils are cooked through.

Drain well and set aside.

Vegetables:

Steam the potatoes until they are cooked through.

Heat  the olive oil in a large skillet.

Add the asparagus and cook until almost done, stirring to prevent it from burning.

Add the cooked potatoes and snow peas and stir to coat them with the oil.

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Assembling:

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Add enough of the rice and lentils to the vegetables in the skillet as you need and stir to combine. You can add a bit of water (or oil) if necessary to keep things moist.

Add salt and pepper, the parsley and the grapes and cook a couple of minutes on low heat.

Remove from heat.

Spoon into a serving dish.

Scatter some radishes and candied nuts on top and serve with peanut sauce or mango sauce of your choice.

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Peaunt Chili sauce:

1/3 cup peanut butter

1 tablespoon dark soy sauce
1 tablespoon sesame oil
1 tablespoon peanut oil
1 tablespoon honey
3 tablespoon Thai chili sauce

Place peanut butter in a bowl, add soy saucer and whisk until mixture is smooth. Add sesame oil, peanut oil, honey and chill sauce and mix to combine. If mixture is too thick thin it out a bit with water, a teaspoon at a time, until you get the correct consistency

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