Veggie Risotto with Lentils…

…happy accident recipes are the best kind, don´t you agree?  I needed a cup of risotto rice last night and only had two-thirds of a cup.  So I topped up with red lentils (one of my favourites) and it worked out brilliantly – tasty, not to say colourful.

If you want to try it, here is the recipe:

2/3 cup of risotto rice
1/3 cup of red lentils
1 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, chopped
1 courgette, chopped
1/2 red pepper, chopped
2 fat cloves of garlic, crushed
3 piri-piri chillies (tiny, hot and sweet), chopped
salt, pepper and herb seasoning of your choice (I make my own seasoning mix with dried herbs from my garden)

Soften the onion a little first in the olive oil.  Sprinkling the salt over it, helps it to soften better.  Add the courgette, red pepper and chillies; cook for a couple of minutes.  Add the garlic last as it can burn quickly.
Then stir in the rice and lentils and stir around for a minute or two.  Cover with 2 cups of boiling water, bring back to the boil, then reduce the heat to minimum.  Leave uncovered whilst cooking and give the occasional stir so the rice and lentils cook evenly.  Be careful not to let it dry out before it is cooked through and add a little more water if necessary.
It should all be cooked through in about 20 minutes and that´s it.  I served it with some bright green cabbage from our garden and some creamy goat´s cheese.  If you have some proper vegetable stock (not stock cube) that would be even better than plain water, but you may have to reduce the salt.  A drop of white wine in the stock would have been great too, if I´d had some.
Here is a picture of piri-piri chillies in our horta: