Spiced Basmati Rice with Lentils and Caramelized Onions

So, in the spirit of cooperation, I've decided to contribute to my twin sister's food blog. I'm writing not from the lovely Midwest, but from New York City, where I find myself occasionally in the position of gently reminding others that there is civilization west of the Hudson River.

I'd been intent on making this lentil dish ever since I bought the beautiful Bon Appetit cookbook at a going-out-of-business sale at the end of December, but I faced some hardships along the way: first, I needed my Dutch oven, which I had loaned to a friend for a "chili night" in October, and only had returned a few weeks ago. Second, I was having a devil of time finding cardamom pods, since neither of my local groceries in Queens carried them. Curious that I should be thwarted in my cardamom search in Queens, home to many excellent Indian eateries, but I live in a largely Greek/Czech area and cardamom seems not to be a critical ingredient in my neighborhood. A brief tour of the Whole Foods at Union Square and I found the elusive spice, but for a hefty $7. Yee. I finally decided to drop in to the local Euromarket grocery. I'd never been there before, and now I can only wonder why I hadn't -- in addition to a much less expensive jar of cardamom pods, they had a whole EU's variety of chocolates, condiments, pastes, rubs, and grains.

Once I had my Dutch oven and the cardamom pods, I thought it was time to make the recipe, which is really quite simple:

1 T. butter
4 c. vertically sliced onions
1/2 c. dried lentils
2 1/2 c. water
3 cardamom pods
2 whole allspice
1 bay leaf
1 tsp. salt
1 c. basmati rice

Melt butter in Dutch oven over med-low heat; add onions and stir 1 minute. Cover and cook onions until tender, about 15 min. Remove lid, and cook until onions are golden brown, about another 25 min. Once they are caramelized, spread onions evenly along bottom of Dutch oven.

In the meantime, cook lentils in saucepan of boiling water until soft, about 20 min. Drain.

Combine water, spices, and salt in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Add rice and lentils, bring to a boil, then cover and reduce heat. Cook 15 min. After lentil and rice mixture has finished cooking, remove spices, then spread mixture atop caramelized onions. Put lid on Dutch oven and bake for about 35 min. at 400 degrees. After baking, remove lid from Dutch oven, let sit for 5 min., then unmold onto platter.

Below is a slightly out-of-focus glamour photo of how it turned out:



The fuzzy picture was the only way to add glamour, really, as it is not a dish that lends itself to fancy presentation. After making this recipe, an important realization was confirmed: caramelized onions make everything tasty.

Betsy