We forgot to defrost the chicken for chicken fried rice so we decided to push that dinner to Friday and make another fine pantry/fridge vegan/vegetarian meal on Thursday.

Note: For a vegan dish omit or substitute the yogurt on the lentils.

Afghani lentils, fattoush, and brown rice

We had this lentil dish a few weeks ago and it was really delicious. Having made it once we knew how to tweak it more to our taste. We used a little less ginger in it.  I made the brown rice first thing in the morning in the oven so it would not heat up the kitchen later in the day. Fattoush is like a Lebanese panzanella salad. It has lettuce, parsley, mint, tomatoes, cucumbers,  green onions, and crisped up pita broken into pieces and then sauteed in a bit of olive oil and dusted with salt, pepper, and sumac. Sumac is a citric-tasting spice. The dressing is olive oil, lime juice, sumac, salt, and a pinch of allspice and cinnamon

So far this week we have had Greek, French, Italian, Afghani, and Lebanese cuisines! Cooking and eating various ethnic dishes is like traveling around the world from your own table!