Egyptian Kusherie

My friend is on a "cleanse" and because it can be pretty challenging... you have to think about your food so much... I thought I'd make her one of my favourite cleansing recipes. This is so simple and so delicious. She is not consuming any sweets, including honey, so I substituted dried apricots for honey in the sauce recipe, because I wanted to to be just a touch sweeter.

Egyptian Kusherie
one of my favourite cleansing recipes

Rice and Lentils
2 tbsp oil
1 ¼ cup lentils
3 cups boiling water
1 tsp salt
1 dash pepper
1 ½ cups brown basmati rice
1 cup boiling water

Sauce
¾ cup tomato paste
3 cups chopped fresh tomatoes (or equivalent)
½-1 bell pepper, chopped
½ cup celery leaves
1 tbsp finely chopped dried apricots (to replace honey)
½ tsp salt, or to taste
1 tsp cumin
¼ tsp cayenne or red hot pepper flakes, or to taste

Browned Onions
1 tbsp oil
3 onions, sliced in rings
4 garlic cloves.

In a large heavy saucepan over medium heat, brown lentils in 2 Tbsp oil, about 5 minutes, stirring often.
Add the 3 cups boiling stock and the salt and pepper. (It will make A LOT of noise and splatter when you pour the water in.)
Cook uncovered 10 minutes over medium heat.
Stir in the rice and 1 cup water.
Bring to boil, reduce heat, cover and simmer 25 minutes without stirring.
Meanwhile make sauce: Heat all the sauce ingredients together in a medium saucepan.
Bring to boil, reduce heat, cover and simmer 20-30 minutes.
To make browned onions, heat oil in a small skillet.
Saute onions and garlic over medium heat till browned.
To serve, put rice lentil mixture on a platter, pour tomato sauce over and top with browned onions.

Enjoy!