Ingredients ( 3-4 large main course servings)

• 1 cup lentils (preferably little green French ones, but big brown ones are fine too. Don't use red lentils--they disintegrate.) For a thoroughly non-traditional variant, substitute black or kidney beans
• 1 cup basmati rice
• 2 onions
• 3-4 Tbs olive oil
• salt & pepper
• optional: red pepper sauce
• optional: yogurt

Directions

• Rinse the lentils and remove any stones, etc.
• Rinse the rice.
• Heat 1 Tbs oil and fry the rice until slightly browned. Remove from heat.
• Chop one onion finely and slice the other one thinly.
• Add 1 Tbs oil to the pan and fry the chopped onions until slightly browned.
• Place rice, lentils, chopped onions, 4 cups of water and salt into rice cooker and cook, or into a pot and simmer until cooked, about 20 minutes.
• While the rice mixture is cooking, fry the onion slices in remaining olive oil over a medium high flame, until dark brown or even slightly blackened, sweet and caramelized.
• When the rice and lentils are cooked, taste and add salt and pepper as desired. It needs a lot.
• Serve hot with caramelized onions and a dollop of yogurt on top and a bottle of hot sauce on the side.
• The rice and beans are just as good cold the next day, although you'll probably have to make more caramelized onions.