Lentils and Rice with caraway and cumin

As usual, I forgot to take a picture until the bowl was almost empty.

I ordered a bunch of vegetables from my local organic foods sourced-from-farms delivery service, and they are set to arrive tomorrow, so last night I opened the fridge and kind of freaked out about how many vegetables I had to eat in 48 hours.  So far, I am totally on track to finish them, because this dish is so damn delicious.

This recipe is a complete accident.  I thought I would flavor red lentils and brown rice with cumin and lemon.  But upon reaching into the cabinet, I pulled out and poured about a tablespoon of caraway seed into the dish before I realized I'd grabbed the wrong jar.  This caused me to immediately forgot about lemon, not to remember until after I'd eaten my first serving, at which point I had already concluded that this was the most perfect dish in the entire world.  I continued to look for cumin seed, eventually settling on ground cumin.  But I did add some black onion seed, which is sometimes called 'black caraway seed'.  I figured the combination would be great.  I was right.

1 c brown rice
1 T olive oil
1/2 large yellow onion
10 cloves garlic
1 T caraway seed
1 T black onion seed
1 t cumin
1 t hot pepper flakes
4 stalks celery, chopped small
3 large carrots, chopped small
1 green pepper, chopped small
1/2 c red lentils
1 t vegetable bouillon

Cook brown rice in 3 cups water until near tender, drain.

Meanwhile, heat olive oil, and cook yellow onion, adding garlic when it is almost translucent and cooking another few minutes.  Add spices.  Stir in the rest of the vegetables and cook until starting to brown.  Add the lentils, bouillon, and 2 cups water.  Cook until vegetables until tender, add rice and simmer until flavors are combined.