Are you looking for something easy, fresh and tasty to make for dinner? This meal is one of the favorites around the Dill house. It is so delicious and always tastes so fresh. We first had this meal when our friends the Cedeno's had us over for dinner. It was so good that I insisted on getting the recipe and we (mostly me!) never get sick of this meal. Below is the recipe and instructions on how to make it, but first....The recipe pros and cons list:
Pros:
-This is very inexpensive to make. Rice = cheap. Lentils= cheap, cheap, cheap & the red onion salsa only has 4 ingredients. The most expensive part of this meal is if you have chicken with it.
-This is very easy to make. It's hard to mess it up and it always tastes good.
- It taste so good you'll just want to keep eating.
Cons:
-It taste so good you'll want to keep eating.
-You may have to plan ahead to purchase the items for the onion salsa. You may not just have a red onion, tomatoes, or cilantro in the fridge. (Unless you are me and always make this meal.)
So what is it?
It's kind of like a haystack... rice, chicken, lentils, and the red onion salsa to top it all off.
To make the salsa you will need the following:
>1 large red onion
>salt
>2 large limes
>2 roma tomatoes
>cilantro
>veggie/olive oil
Slice the onion very thin. Put it in a small bowl and submerge the onion in HOT water from the tap. Then, squeeze the heck out of the onions while they are in the water. Do this until you can feel the onions are soft or until your husband, roommate or kids ask you what on earth you are doing. Drain off the hot water and rinse the onion with COLD water. Drain off the cold water.
Once drained, add some salt.... not too much... no more than a teaspoon or so. Just enough salt to lightly cover the onions. Mix. Cut up the limes and squeeze the juice onto the onions. You can add a little water to it if you don't like a real limey taste (no more than 1/4 cup), but I never add water. We like the lime taste strong! Dice up your tomatoes, add to onions. Chop up some cilantro and add in with the onion and tomatoes. Put 1 tablespoon of oil and mix well. Refrigerate covered until ready to serve.
If you've never made lentils before, don't panic... they are SO easy to make.
You can make them by doing the following:
>Lentils
>Chicken Bouillon/Broth
>Water
>Cilantro
Put the lentils in a pot on medium heat with enough water to cover them. I usually add some chicken bouillon or broth to it. As it begins to cook water will evaporate and you might need to add a little water to them as they cook. Once the lentils are soft and cooked I add some chopped cilantro to it.
Sometimes when we want a little meat we cook a piece of chicken and have that as well.
So there you have it, we usually layer it rice on bottom, lentils, chicken, salsa.
Let me know if you have any questions! And happy eating!
