Sour Cherries Recipes

* Basmati or Patna rice is a particularly flavorful and long-grained rice
from India or Pakistan. Any Indian store and many ‘natural foods’ stores
carry it. It is well worth the premium price (about $1.10 a pound);
‘Texmati’ is apparently the same strain grown in Texas, but does not have
anything like the same taste. Inspect and clean it before using, there are
often unhusked grains and occasionally pebbles mixed in. Then rinse in two
changes of water and drain thoroughly. If you cannot get Basmati, use a
good-quality unconverted long-grain rice (Alma, Carolina, but NOT Uncle
Ben’s!).

* Red lentils are about half the diameter of ordinary brown lentils. Do
not substitute brown lentils, which will probably not cook fast enough. Red
lentils are available in Indian, Middle Eastern and some ‘natural foods’
stores. They often contain largish pebbles, so inspect them carefully.
Rinse to get rid of dust, and drain. Red lentils are also very good by
themselves, simply boiled with a few spices and served with butter.

* Sour cherries (in the Middle East, v/w i s/sh n e/a/ino: Greek
Vissino, Slavic and Turkish Vishnea, Arabic Wishna) are available fresh for
about one week a year. Most sour cherries go into cherry syrups, pies and
preserves. Canned sour cherries are quite good. You will usually find
them in the home pie-making section of your market, near the canned
blueberries and baker’s supplies, or with the canned fruits. There are
occasional stones. (That is, pits, not rocks!) Middle Eastern stores will
often have sour cherry preserves, which are too sweet for this recipe.

* Almost any stock or broth will work in this recipe. Chicken or lamb is
most appropriate, in the latter case, used rather dilute. This is one of
the few recipes where you can actually get away with canned chicken broth,
but watch the salt.
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able/lentil/pilaf-with-sour-cherries-a
nd-lentils.html