Divorced Dad’s Bomber Golden Lentils Over Basmati Rice

It really has been a few long weeks of losing some important famous people. Lemmy Kilmister, Bowie, Snape, and today Dan Haggerty. For me the hardest one was Lemmy of Motörhead. It was also a hell of a week at work. It was full days of teenagers whining and crying, trying to complete required work (that should have been done months ago) before the end of the semester, with late evenings and early mornings of project grading. So in that context of exhaustion I needed to cook dinner for my three kids on their first night back with me after a week with their mother.

I decided on an old standby, golden lentils over basmati rice, which my kids love. Waiting in my mailbox at home was also a new Motörhead shirt I bought on ebay. My new outfit inspired me to follow Food and Beverage Magazine’s decision to rename Jack and Coke “The Lemmy”.

Tonight I renamed this nourishing dish, which I modified from an old vegetarian cookbook that I lost to my ex in the divorce,  Bomber Golden Lentils after Motörhead‘s classic song. Now…vegetarian food isn’t very metal, but making it while listening to a Motörhead radio station on Spotify, while your daughter sings Ozzy’s “Crazy Train”, is about as close to metal as it gets in my house. My eldest is a classical pianist. My thirteen year old son plays jazz trumpet. And my thirteen year old daughter is pop all the way. I will need to wait for grandkids before I have someone to go to metal shows with me again. Anyway…

Divorced Dad’s Bomber Golden Lentils

• 1 cup golden lentils

  

• 1 cup basmati rice
• 1 cup white wine (I used a 2014 Cupcake Sauvignon Blanc tonight)
• 1 medium sized yellow onion cubed
• 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil
• 2-5 garlic cloves minced (my kids love A LOT of garlic. But 2-3 is a starting point)
• 1/2 teaspoon curry (I prefer red curry, but used yellow this evening)
• 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
• 1/4 teaspoon chipotle pepper powder (more if you want it spicier)
• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
• 4 cups of vegetable broth or water (Broth will make the lentils richer. Add a 5th cup for thinner soup)
• 2 basil leaves
• Salt and black pepper to taste
  

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1. Start the rice first. It will be ready to go once the lentils are done.I use one cup of rice for my three kids and myself.
2. Heat the vegetable oil in a soup pot, and then sautée the onions, garlic, curry, paprika,chipotle pepper powder, and cinnamon together.
3. When the onion has caramelized add the red lentils and stir for 2-3 minutes.
4. Add the wine and stir. Let the lentils absorb some of the liquid while the alcohol burns away. About 2-3 minutes.
5. Add the broth or water and the bay leaves into the lentils. Let the liquid boil. Turn down the heat and let the lentils simmer until they are tender. About 20 minutes.
6. Take the bay leaves out of the lentils. Use a blender or food processor to blend everything together. I have started using an Oster Hand Blender that my girlfriend gave me when she moved, and it makes the whole process from blending to cleaning  much easier and quicker.
7. Serve the lentils over the rice in a bowl. Salt and pepper to taste. Plain yogurt or sour cream, and parsley for garnish can also be used.