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Spiced Rice and Red Lentil Kitchari with Cucumber Yoghurt

Basmati and red lentils cooked down together with ginger, cumin and coriander into a soft savoury porridge, served with cool cucumber yoghurt.

Spiced Rice and Red Lentil Kitchari with Cucumber Yoghurt. Basmati and red lentils cooked down together with ginger, cumin and coriander into a soft savoury porridge, served with cool cucumber yoghurt.
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Prep 12 minCook 30 minServes 2

Ingredients

Why metric?

Metric avoids regional spoon ambiguity. US uses 5 mL tsp, 15 mL tbsp and 240 mL cup. Small masses stay in grams unless a verified recipe conversion exists. More on measurements

  • 100 g basmati rice (dry)
  • 80 g dried red lentils (dry)
  • 30 g unsalted butter
  • 1 small brown onion, finely chopped (100 g)
  • 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped (10 g)
  • 8 g fresh ginger, grated
  • 2 g ground cumin
  • 2 g ground coriander
  • 3 g mild curry powder
  • 780 ml water (780 g)
  • 80 g frozen peas
  • 200 g natural low-fat yoghurt
  • 100 g cucumber, coarsely grated
  • 5 g fresh mint, shredded
  • 10 ml lemon juice (10 g)
  • 1 g iodised table salt
  • Ground black pepper, to taste

Method

  1. Rinse the rice and lentils together in a sieve until the water runs clear rather than milky. Starch left on the grains makes the finished dish gluey.
  2. Melt the butter in a heavy saucepan and cook the onion with the salt over medium-low heat for 8 minutes, until soft and translucent. Add the garlic, ginger and all three spices and stir 30 seconds, until they smell toasted rather than dusty.
  3. Tip in the drained rice and lentils, turn them through the spiced butter, then add the water and bring to the boil.
  4. Drop the heat as low as it goes, cover and cook 20-25 minutes, stirring every few minutes and scraping the base. It is ready when the lentils have disappeared entirely and a spoonful falls in a soft mound rather than in separate grains. Add hot water if it tightens before then.
  5. Squeeze the grated cucumber dry in your hands and stir it into the yoghurt with the mint.
  6. Fold the peas through the hot kitchari and leave 2 minutes off the heat to warm through. Finish with the lemon juice and pepper, and serve with the cucumber yoghurt spooned on top.

Safety and storage

Keeps
2 days refrigerated below 5°C
Reheat to
steaming hot, at least 60°C

Cooked rice and pasta keep two days rather than three, so this dish takes the shorter time. Cool and cover within two hours, split large amounts into shallow containers, and reheat until steaming hot, at least 60°C.

Where these temperatures come from