Lentil and Rice Hamin

👨‍🍳 Method

For the Fried onion

1. 1
   Heat the oil in a large pot over medium heat.

   ⚙ Pan-fryingStoveLarge pot
2. 2
   Add the onion and fry for 8–10 minutes, stirring, until the onion is soft and deep golden.

   ⚙ Adding to the hot fat and fryingStove

   💡Add by cooking time: what needs long (onion, carrot, meat) goes in first, and what burns fast (garlic, dry spices) goes in last, only until fragrant.
3. 3
   Add the garlic and fry about 30 seconds to 1 minute, just until fragrant. Don't let the garlic brown.

   ⚙ Adding to the hot fat and fryingStove

   💡Garlic burns quickly and turns bitter. Add it only after the onion has softened, over medium heat, and add the next ingredient as soon as it smells fragrant.

To assemble

1. 4
   Place the lentils and rice in the bottom of the pot, and on top of them the eggs. The eggs go in whole, in their shells.
2. 5
   Add the turmeric, cumin, paprika, bay leaves, salt and black pepper and pour in the water until it covers everything.
3. 6
   Bring to a boil.

   Stove
4. 7
   Turn down' to the lowest heat', cover and simmer 8–10 hours, until the eggs brown and the rice absorbs all the liquid.

   ⚙ SimmeringStoveLid

   💡Toward the end of cooking, check the water in the pot; if it's low, add only boiling water, so the hamin doesn't cool down in the middle of cooking.

   💡A gentle simmer, not a boil: a hard boil dries the food out and clouds it, a slow simmer cooks it evenly.
5. 8
   Serve the hamin hot with cornichons and bread.