It's freezing in Buffalo in January and my kitchen has been offline during renovations. Last night, I made this Lentil Stew. After finding a recipe in the 2002 Whole Foods Market Cookbook, I was out of Fennel Seed. But I did find some Cumin Seed, so I paged through Ismael Merchant's "Passionate Meals" and remebered that one way Indian Chef's get certain flavors was to toss the seeds into hot oil for a few seconds. So, with whatever ingredients I had on hand, that is what I did here.
oo, cu, garlic, mushroom, onion, celery, carrot, chiken stock, bay leaf, lentils, rice, salt, soy sauce, mirin, crispy chili paste, chicken, skin
Place 3 properly seasoned chicken thighs skin side down in a cold 16 oz soup pot and turn heat to medium. When the fat has melted and the skin is crispy, flip and cook through. The process should take 20 minutes or more, When done, remove the chicken to a wire rack skin side up to drain. Pour excess oil out to a separate schmalz container. The fond will be thick, some of the fat will remain in the pot.
Add an amount of oil about eqaul to the amount of fat in the pan (a few Tbs). When hot, add 2 tsp cumin seed and 2 cloves of minced garlic and stir constantly until the seeds seemed fried (do not allow any burning smell). Immediately add a small package of quartered button mushrooms and sweat tme a little. Then add 1 diced Red Bell Pepper, 1 diced medium oinon, and a small bag of baby carrots.
Once the pepper and onion are soft, add 32 oz of wegman's organic chicken stock along with 64oz filtered water and bring to the boil. Add the equivalent of 2 large Bay Leaves. Release any remaining fond at this time. When the water is boiling, add 8t better than bouillion low sodium chicken stock concentrate (skip this step if using all liquid.) Add salt a little at a timer till it tastes ok. Then add a cup and a half of brown lentils and a half a cup of rice. Bring back to the boil and set pot to simmer. Cooking will take around 30 minutes. Check salt and fix every ten minutes or so.
When the lentils are tender, you can remove from heat and store until the next day. Either way, taste critically to see if the flavors are out of balance. I decided since my broth had savory covered, I needed to balance the salt and bitter. I added mirin for sweet and soy sauce for umami litle by little and got it right.
It's good even when it gets cold!