Aleister's rice and lentils recipe (Oatmeal too!)

When I offered to write-up my lentils and rice recipe, ATS'er HelenConway took me up on it. So here is exactly how I would make the dish if I were eating alone and would want at least a three-day supply, and you were standing over my shoulder (as I am now standing over yours).

"Aleister's Rice and Lentils recipe":

Using a measuring cup measure out 1 1/2 cups of uncooked brown rice (good long grains, basmati, etc.), then another 3/4 cup of uncooked lentils with a thin layer of uncooked green peas added on top. Empty that 2 1/4 cup mixture into a bowl or other container, then in a good size pot (with a cover) add 4 1/2 cups of water and heat on "high"..

As the water is reaching a boil, heat up another burner to a good simmering temperature (so it keeps boiling once it's on there, but not very quickly).

As the water heats up towards boil, add in: a bay leaf, a good amount of tumeric, garlic powder, Italian seasoning, curry (I use very mild curry), cumin, and some ginger.

When the water boils, mix in the rice, stir it around to grab the seasonings, cover and move to the lower burner.

Take note of the time. As it nears the twenty minute mark cut up one or more onions, and lots of broccoli (of course you can add anything else to this at any time, this is just how I make it, hence "Aleister's rice and lentils"), and add it in at the 20-minute mark. Cover.

At the 40 minute mark begin checking to see if the water is cooked in or steamed out. Do this by moving just a tiny portion of the rice (you never want to stir the rice in the water) to see how much water is left. I use a long wooden spoon to do this. Then keep on checking every few minutes until the rice is just about sticking to the bottom of the pot but not quite. Then, keeping it covered, move the pot to a coaster, and let it stand for nine or so minutes.

After nine minutes, dish as much of the mixture into a bowl as you'd like. I eat lots of it, ummmmmm. Then, when it's in the bowl, add in garlic or oatmeal seasame sticks and mix it so the sticks go under the rice and lentils and thus soften a bit. Then on top of everthing:

Sprinkle or drizzle on olive oil. Then balsamic vinegar. Then on top of that sprinkle zaatar (a great Indian/arabian spice), black pepper, just a very little salt, and then top it all off with nutritional yeast. A feast for the eyes and for the rest of the body!

Next up for your eating pleasure:

"Aleister's Oatmeal recipe":

Measure 1 1/2 cups of bulk oatmeal, put aside.

Then the same amount of water in a pot, and boil the water.

As the water starts to boil add a nice but not massive amount of garlic powder, tumeric, cumin, and curry, and some Italian seasoning if you've like. You can even add in some onion powder.

When this is boiling, mix in the oatmeal, lower the heat a little but still on boil, and with a wooden spoon keep on mixing the oatmeal around and around, like a washing machine. As the water is soaked up or evaporated, the oatmeal will get a little harder to stir, and stir it until the consistency is reached that you like. It shouldn't be sticking to the bottom of the pot though (although a little of that is unavoidable).

Remove the pot from the heat, and with the oatmeal still in the pot add a half-spoon or so of peanut butter and mix that around so it will melt, and at the same time add and mix in some raisins and a half-handful or so of seasame sticks. Mix that all up, and then push it out of the pot with a wooden spoon and transfer it to a bowl.

Once it's in the bowl, drizzle on olive oil. Then on top of the olive oil comes your black pepper, zaatar, and topped off with nutritional yeast (once you get used to nutritional yeast you may love the nutty flavor).

Then feast. This makes a lot, because I love eating this stuff, and I often don't make as much but just a cup or so. You may even want less, so find out how much you like.

There you go. You can open up your own restaurant with these two dishes alone, but please give me 5 percent of the gross, and yes, you can name it (or your soon-to-be famous chain of restaurants) "Aleister's" as long as that 5 percent off the top keeps flowing my way!!!)

If you make either of these two dishes, I hope you enjoy them! You can thank me later, but I'll "You're welcome" you now.

reply to post by Aleister


thanks aleistar - I will try them this week and let you know how I get on

Originally posted by HelenConway
reply to post by Aleister

 

thanks aleistar - I will try them this week and let you know how I get on

Thank you, and thanks for "requesting" it. It'd be good to hear how you like (or dislike) either of them. Writing that made me hungry, and I'm past my eating time for today (I do a 14-hour fast daily, from my last bite of the evening to the first of the morning, as a toxic cleanse). People I'm very close to get the personal cook (me) on the recipes, but other people I know won't even try them. I have a sister and her husband who've never tried them. Friends who have, most of them have asked me for the recipe!

reply to post by Aleister


The rice sounds yummy....I may have to try it soon.
Not sure what the second burned needed heating for....still suffering from DST over the weekend.


The oatmeal....I dunno....savory oatmeal may be an acquired taste

Originally posted by DontTreadOnMe
reply to post by Aleister

 

The rice sounds yummy....I may have to try it soon.
Not sure what the second burned needed heating for....still suffering from DST over the weekend.


The oatmeal....I dunno....savory oatmeal may be an acquired taste

Thanks! And the oatmeal will knock your socks off (if you wear any), so don't leave them laying around the floor. The oatmeal recipe sounds weird, I know, but I remember a friend who was very hesitant to try it while seeing me cook it, had a bowl, asked for a second, and went away with the recipe. Maybe not everyone will enjoy it, but they unfortunately have passed on, goddess rest their souls.

Originally posted by Aleister
When I offered to write-up my lentils and rice recipe, ATS'er HelenConway took me up on it. So here is exactly how I would make the dish if I were eating alone and would want at least a three-day supply, and you were standing over my shoulder (as I am now standing over yours).

"Aleister's Rice and Lentils recipe":
...
..."Aleister's Oatmeal recipe":
...If you make either of these two dishes, I hope you enjoy them! You can thank me later, but I'll "You're welcome" you now.

That was about as kind as one can get... Neither recipe looks terribly enticing to me...but...I will probably try both ('cause I like to see what you have to say on most topics...and figure that "quality" will probably carry over to your taste/s in food.)
So - Thanks!

reply to post by Aleister


gah! i was right with you untill you added peanut butter.

heathen

i bet you like sodding marmite too

reply to post by skalla


i'm going to star and flag you anyway, i'll try the recipe but just substitute the peanut butter for some armpit hair and the shavings off of my verrucas.

ETA: i just posted a recipe too Aleister, you may enjoy it

reply to post by Aleister


Aleistar what is an oatmeal sesame stick ? Is it a bread stick and are you in England - can I buy the oatmeal sticks at Morrison's or Sainsbury's ?

Originally posted by HelenConway
reply to post by Aleister

 

Aleistar what is an oatmeal sesame stick ? Is it a bread stick and are you in England - can I buy the oatmeal sticks at Morrison's or Sainsbury's ?

They are these semi-tiny "things" made of oats and flour, or have garlic. They're just for taste and seasoning in the recipe I use. Not sure about their availability at those stores, but the concept is to season with something with a little flavor that gets softer when "submerged" in rice and lentils, or in oatmeal. I'll often take a few just as a crunchy snack in lieu of chips ("gave up" potato chips coming up on a year now). Wait, I think I see some meandering by

Originally posted by skalla
reply to post by Aleister

 

gah! i was right with you untill you added peanut butter.

heathen

i bet you like sodding marmite too

The peanut butter I use is 100 percent peanut butter, not the ridiculous popular non-peanut butter brands that remove all the peanut oil and replace it with palm oil or some chemical brew. I should have established that these recipies are only genuine if made with healthy brown rice, whole peanut butter, etc.

There was one guy I knew who ate nothing but a jar of peanut butter a day and cooked chicken. That's all he ever ate. He walked around in yellow shoes. Since I knew him he's been married, and I sometimes wonder if his wife eats like him or if he expanded his body's bacteria to break down other foods.

Don't you eat peanuts at all? They are beans, but fatty beans, like Santa if he came back as a bean. They go very well in trail mix.

And I will look at your recipe and maybe be adventerous and make it, whatever it is (didn't say I'd try it, just make it.) Thanks. (EDIT: Ha! The maybe in the above sentence just became "no way on goddesses green earth". And you call me a heathen! But if I made your kangaroo and/or crocodile mixed with white tiger meat or whatever mammal or reptile or insect it is you use as a juice base, I'd be sure to season it with, as you say in your thread, "long pig", which would look suspiciously like your avatar. Hmmmmmm.)

reply to post by WanDash


Thanks very much! Kinder words were never spoken to me. Well, maybe once, when my mum asked me to fetch her a napkin and I did, and she said "It's about time you earned your keep around here." Dear old ma.

But a sincere thanks. And if you do try the mixtures I hope you like them. Or at least portions of them, maybe the zaatar (I just learned about zaatar in '008 from a friend who always uses it, and have added it onto my stuff as a seasoning ever since).

Originally posted by Aleister
There was one guy I knew who ate nothing but a jar of peanut butter a day and cooked chicken. That's all he ever ate. He walked around in yellow shoes.

that's Tom Bombadil - i read too much Tolkien too, but since i cut down on cosmic cigarettes i no longer believe i'm in Doriath when i go down the woods to look for bit of trees to make spears and cudgels from.
trouble is i used to be a moderate freaky eater as a kid, as a teenager a dealt with a lot of that, though try as i might, nuts do still trouble me for purely pernicketty reasons

Originally posted by skalla

Originally posted by Aleister
There was one guy I knew who ate nothing but a jar of peanut butter a day and cooked chicken. That's all he ever ate. He walked around in yellow shoes.

that's Tom Bombadil - i read too much Tolkien too, but since i cut down on cosmic cigarettes i no longer believe i'm in Doriath when i go down the woods to look for bit of trees to make spears and cudgels from.

trouble is i used to be a moderate freaky eater as a kid, as a teenager a dealt with a lot of that, though try as i might, nuts do still trouble me for purely pernicketty reasons

The kangaroos have your picture hung up in their 'roo lairs, and they now stand guard, like prairie dogs but taller. Nah, I never could read Tolkien, tried a few pages now and then but couldn't get into the rhythm. The movies either, they were just long and walking (kind of like a cinema walkabout that you just wanted to end). But this guy actually did wear yellow rubber boots all the time. And he had lots of theories too. He's probably one of the users here for all I know, peanut butter jar and spoon always next to his terminal like a semi-healthy version of that fat Newman-looking guy in "Jurassic Park".

Hmmm, interesting thought. Do people with peanut allergies have the same problem with other beans? I know you didn't say you were allergic, but the pleasures of p.b. are still with me and my heart goes out to you if you can't eat them (/you joyfully grab my still-beating heart and add it to your 'roo stew/)

reply to post by Aleister


thanks aleistar - I am going to try th erecipe without the oatmeal worms because I do not think we can get them in the UK. Suggest anything alternative ?

Originally posted by HelenConway
reply to post by Aleister

 

thanks aleistar - I am going to try th erecipe without the oatmeal worms because I do not think we can get them in the UK. Suggest anything alternative ?

Hi. Not really. What I was doing was writing down the recipe exactly as I make the food. The oatmeal worms give it a little soft crunch and just another taste thrown into the mix. And thank you for considering making the stuff, I'd really like to know what you think. The recipe I wrote makes a lot, but I use it up in about two or three days, depending on who's eating it. Yummmmmm. Making me hungry. Have you ever eaten Rice Dream, the ice cream substitute? And a really good but expensive vegan pizza came out not very long ago, made with a rice crust and soy cheese that actually melts. Feasts aplenty.

reply to post by Aleister

another question...does the rice and lentils hold their own....or does it more or less turn into a mush????

reply to post by DontTreadOnMe


Not a mush, no. Usually they hold up fine, and are colored by the seasonings. I don't ever mix them once I put them in after the boil starts and swill them around to get the seasonings mingled in. Then I put the onions and brocolli in at about the half way point, and those get soft to my taste (some people may like harder or softer veggies). What I do find is that the lentils tend to gather together around the sides of the pot.

reply to post by Aleister


"Aleister's Rice and Lentils recipe":


as in crowley? NO THANKS!!!! J/K

Originally posted by ~widowmaker~
reply to post by Aleister

 

"Aleister's Rice and Lentils recipe":


as in crowley? NO THANKS!!!! J/K

Yes, that's right, these were Aleister Crowley's recipes which have been secretly passed down through the generations, and he specifically advocated the tiny oatmeal worms as the key factor (see Liber XXIII,chapter 93, "Spoken by The Beast as pertaining to the making of the cakes of rice and the lentils (and oatmeal too)"). Jeez. In seriousness, I don't know what Crowley ate, besides his cakes of light (gag) and other fluidey things, an interesting thought. "The Crowley Cookbook" might contain some interesting dishes, but I doubt if he made rice and beans.

I don't know why this reminds me of it, but I have a great recipe for noodles and stuff that Leo Tolstoy used to serve his lunch guests every day (it's from a book of recipes by famous vegetarians, there's a good one in there that Da Vinci would chow down on). Tolstoy had people over every day for lunch and conversation, not a bad habit.