Rishta


Sauce
  • 1 cup dried lentils (French lentils are especially  nice), picked over and rinsed
  • 3 garlic cloves, minced
  • 1 10 oz can Ro-tel (or any diced tomatoes with green chiles)
  • 2 8 oz cans tomato sauce
  • 2 T tomato paste
  • 2 T sugar
  • 2 t. paprika
  • 1 t. ground cumin
  • ¼  t. ground allspice
  • ¼  t. ground coriander
  • ⅛ t. cayenne

Carmelized Onions
  • 2 onions, halved and thinly sliced

Pasta
  • 1 pound fettucine or other pasta

Boil the lentils in 3 c. water until tender but firm, about 20 minutes. Drain excess liquid and set aside.

Meanwhile, sauté the onions in a nonstick pan with a little water until water evaporates and onions begin to soften. Repeat this step several times, adding some water and stirring occasionally as it evaporates, until onions are very soft and golden brown.

Cook the pasta according to package directions until al dente. Drain.

While pasta is cooking, in a medium saucepan, combine garlic, Ro-tel, tomato sauce, tomato paste, sugar, and spices.** Simmer for 10-15 minutes until flavors blend. Add cooked lentils and heat through.

To serve, ladle sauce over individual servings of pasta, and top with some of the onions.

**Instead of these spices, you can use any other North African spice blend, such as the Berbere spice blend from Dean Ornish's Eat More, Weigh Less.

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