Coconut Rice With Lentils And Cashew

Ingredients	Quantity
Basmati rice	½ pounds
Vegetable oil	1 tbsp
Mustard seeds	1 tsp
Urad daal or brown lentils	1  tsp
Dried red chillies	2
Fresh curry leaves	4
Fresh coconut – grated	8 ounces
Unsalted roasted cashews	1 ounces
Salt and pepper
Garnish:
Fresh curry leaves
Dried red chillies

 

Put the rice in a sieve and rinse under cold running water until the water runs clear. Bring 500 ml lightly salted water to the boil in a large pan. Add the rice, bring back to the boil and cook for 20 minutes. Drain and return to the pan, then cover with a tight-fitting lid.

In a small pan, heat the oil, add the mustard seeds and cook for 1 minute until the seeds start to pop. Add the lentils, dried red chillies and curry leaves and cook for 2-3 minutes, stirring frequently, until the lentils are golden. Stir in the coconut and cook over a low heat for 3-4 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Toss with the rice and nuts and spoon into a warmed serving dish. Garnish with fresh curry leaves and dried red chillies.

NOTE:   It's nicer and more authentic to use fresh coconut but you can use unsweetened desiccated coconut if you can't find the real thing. Lentils are a very traditional ingredient used in Kerala cooking -- here they are used to add a nutty flavour and different texture to the rice. Urad dhal are black lentils, which can be quite difficult to find. You can use brown lentils instead.