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Integralisimo proposes you to cook a delicious whole grain lentil stew and chicken meatballs on cold winter days. A simple recipe to prepare and with just a few ingredients, you get a substantial nutritious meal. With no doubt, an excellent option for large families with good appetite.
Let’s talk about the recipe:
Preparing this recipe is easy because it has no complications in terms of its preparation, and it 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 in this recipe is brown rice, which in other countries is known as brown rice, cargo rice, or whole rice. The outer shell or glume is removed from this type of rice, which is not edible, but retains the wheat germ and the bran layer that surrounds it. For this reason, rice grains have a slightly brownish color.
Due to its composition, brown rice is harder than white rice. Therefore, it requires more cooking time. Generally, it takes 40 minutes to cook, although this can differ depending on the brand of rice used. For this reason, before using it in a recipe, it is convenient to pre-cook the rice to shorten the preparation time.
Continuing with the ingredients list are the lentils, this time I used thin-skinned brown ones. But you can use any variety, whether they are pardina, castilian, blond, green (puy), red, yellow, black (beluga) lentils, etc. Which may or may not soak previously. Although if you choose to skip this step, the cooking time will consequently be different, prolonging it.
Certainly, both soaking and cooking times fluctuate depending on the variety of lentil (see notes). Then it is advisable to read the instructions on the package or know the lentil that is going to be used before starting with the recipe. However, you can use canned lentils and skip this step.
Meatballs:
Preparing chicken meatballs is easy since chicken meat has its advantages. Quite frankly, it’s some of the leanest, most protein-rich meat out there. And on the other, it is its protein composition that makes it beneficial for its preparation.
And it is that 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.
As an alternative to chicken, it can be pork or beef. Another way to accompany it if you don’t want to make meatballs is with chorizo, grill 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 be in order. This means that the ingredients are added according to their cooking time. In this way, none of them remains raw or overcooked. Therefore, the order is important for a good result. The cooking is in a pot or saucepan, preferably with a thick bottom, so that it does not stick.
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Visit my exclusive whole grain recipes website Integralisimo. For sweets recipes, Locos Por Los Dulces and for vegan recipes, Veganisimos.