Cold winter days are coming, ideal for preparing a delicious lentil stew with brown rice and chicken meatballs. A simple recipe to prepare and, with just a few ingredients, you get a substantial and nutritious meal. With no doubt, an excellent option for large families with a good appetite.
Let’s talk a bit about the recipe:
Preparing this recipe is easy, since it has no complications in terms of its preparation and has more than one advantage. The ingredients used are just a few and often used, easy to find in any market. In addition, you can change any of them according to preference or need without inconvenience.
About the ingredients:
One of the ingredients of this recipe is whole wheat rice, which in other countries is known as brown rice or cargo rice. This type of rice is removed from the outer shell or glume, which is not edible, but retains the wheat germ and the layer of bran that surrounds it. This is why rice grains have a slightly brownish color.
Due to its composition, brown rice is harder than white rice. Therefore, it requires more cooking time. It generally takes 40 minutes to cook, although this may differ depending on the brand of rice used. For this reason, before using it in a recipe, it is advisable to precook the rice to shorten the preparation time.
Continuing with the list of ingredients, the lentils, this time the thin-skinned brown ones. But you can use any variety of lentils, whether they are pardinas, castellanas, blond, green (puy), red, yellow, black (beluga), etc. Which may or may not pre-soak. Although if they choose to skip this step, the cooking time will consequently differ, prolonging it.
Certainly, both soaking and cooking times fluctuate depending on the variety of lentil (see notes). So, it is advisable to read the instructions on the package or know the lentil that will be used before starting with the recipe. However, you can simply use canned lentils and save yourself this step.
Meatballs:
Preparing these chicken meatballs is pretty simple because chicken meat has more than one advantage. Frankly, it is one of the leanest and highest protein meats. And, on the other hand, its protein composition makes it beneficial in terms of preparation.
Since said protein contained in chicken meat acts as a glue. For this reason, there would be no need to add extra ingredients to bind the preparation. For this protein to develop, you have to knead the minced chicken meat for a few minutes, just as if it were a dough bun.
As an alternative to chicken, it can be beef or pork. Another way to accompany if you don’t want to make meatballs is with chorizo, grilled sausages, chopped meat and the classic lentil stew, bacon. Although, if you are one of those who like complete stews, you can combine any of them to make it filling.
About cooking:
Like any lentil stew, cooking must take place in an order. This means that the ingredients are added according to their cooking time. In this way, none of them are raw or overcooked. Therefore, the order is important for a good result. Cooking is in a pot or saucepan, preferably with a thick bottom, so it doesn’t stick.
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