Day Nine

The day of the lentils: I ate two types of lentil today, almost a protein overload on this diet. Today was the first day I have felt a little hard done by. This had much to do with defrosting and heating some lamb mince chilli for David for supper - it really did smell very good. But it's also been a day of very hard cognitive work and bitty eating. Breakfast was a wash - the porridge was sloppy and the toast without substance. And after swimming 40 lengths (go me) I just desperately wanted cake. Should have given in and bought a donught.

Nevertheless I was pretty pleased with lunch, so here's the recipe. I just wish it wasn't 8 hours ago...

Rice pilaf and salad - sauté an onion and four cloves of garlic, finely chopped. Add two stems of lemongrass also finely chopped. Add a sprinkling of dried chilli flakes and a shake of ground coriander. Stir in some brown rice, cook for a minute and pour over veggie stock. Cook until the rice until almost fully cooked. Add frozen peas, a few spoonfuls of cooked lentils, chopped dried apricots, and a handful of nuts, toasted and finely chopped. Put the lid back on and cook until e rice is tender and the stock absorbed.

Meanwhile mix leaves like spinach and pea shoots with a thinly sliced avocado. Grate a small knob of ginger into a jar. Add virgin rapeseed oil, soy sauce, a few drops of sesame oil, honey and lime juice, tasting and mixing until it's how you want it. Toast some sesame seeds in a dry frying pan. Toss the salad with the seeds and dressing. Serve the rice topped with the salad and with a pitta bread.

This would work well in a mezze with an aubergine dip, humous, mixed salad, olives and flatbread.