Cooking Adventure!

Today, I went to help a friend do some work on her laptop - this has been something that was pending for several months now, mainly due to her needing her laptop all the time, and the issues on it not critical enough to outweigh being without it for more than a brief time. She also did not want the laptop to leave her home, so I went to her place to perform the services.
She left a pile of ingredients on the counter top and I knew what to do when the time came - make something fancy with the ingredients on hand. I also had a bit of young brussel sprouts with me in my backpack, so I added that to the pile, and grabbed some other ingredients and spices from their places and also added them to the pile. So without further ado:

*TLAR Asian Continent Style Goulash

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Ingredients

1.5 cups brown jasmine rice
2 cups steamed black lentils
2 small turnips, or one large one
1 large eggplant
1 or 2 small zucchinis
1 medium sized onion, or half a large one
4 cups brussel sprouts (mixed large and small bulbs)
1 tomato
2 cups arugula
Half a cucumber
4 eggs
Half cup chia seeds
Paprika
Tumeric
Black Pepper
Curry Powder
Sea Salt
Ground Cumin
2 bouillon cubes
5 cups water

Cooking Journey

Prepped pot with the rice, and used the finger method to measure water (fill with water up to the first joint of middle finger) - felt it may be too much given how little rice there was to begin with compared to the size of the pot. I then cut the turnip into half inch cubes and tossed them in with the rice. Covered, and set heat to high.
I got a deep pan and filled it with the aforementioned 2 cups of water so there was about a quarter inch of water at the bottom of the pan. I created half inch cubes of the zucchini and eggplant, as well as diced the onion and tomato and tossed them into the pan. Covered and set heat to medium for the pan.
By this time, the rice was boiling full tilt, so reduced it to low heat, and took a 5 minute break to let the pan cook a bit and soften up the contents. After the break, uncovered the pan and added in the four eggs as if the pan was empty and intending to fry them sunny side up. Did some careful stirring of the egg whites to meld in with the rest of the ingredients in the pan, while keeping the egg yolks relatively whole - the idea was to have the egg yolks be nuggets of isolated flavor chunks amongst the rest. Separated the brussel sprouts into their leaves then added it to the pan.
I then added in all the aforementioned spices in moderate amounts and covered it again; as well as the bouillon. I returned attention to the rice pot to check on done-ness and felt it was the right time to prep the lentils and added them into the pot while using the spoon to loosen them up into individual grains and stirred it into the rice and turnips until thoroughly and evenly mixed. I also added sea salt to taste. Covered and let it sit.
Checked the pan and noticed all the water had nearly evaporated and eye-balled another 3 cups of water into the pan. Felt the need to let things cook for a while, so I set the pan to low heat, and took a 10 minute break.
By this time, the rice, lentils, and turnip had been cooking for 35 minutes, and so I checked - I did put too much water initially, as the rice was done, lentils were heated up, turnips were super soft and the consistency was that of porridge. Okay, interesting development. Checked the pan, and all the ingredients were cooked, so I turned off the heat, added the arugula and chia seeds, and stirred it all into the mix, and covered it again. The consistency and texture reminded me of goulash except a bit more liquid and so I decided to flow with the development and just serve it as goulash.
I got a medium sized bowl, and spooned if about 1/3 way up with the rice, lentil, turnip mix, then ladled in the pan contents the rest of the way up, garnished with cucumber slices. Sprinkled another teaspoon more chia seeds on top for aesthetic reasons. Lunch was served. All this made about 3 full to the brim bowls of the goulash.
The taste had an overtone of general peppery hot mixed in with a hint of Indian spice flavor, overlaid with general thick cornucopia of moderate flavored vegetables that had all broken down into a soft and chunky liquid. The tomatoes gave it some color alongside the paprika. The bouillon ended up getting absorbed by the egg yolk chunks therefore fulfilling its role really well. The brussel sprouts and arugula, being added near the end were at peak green color, and gave it a neat contrast to the earthier tones of the rest of the dish, as well as gave it a mixture of sweetness and slight bitterness that tempered everything into a textured taste mix. The rice, lentil, turnip ended up giving the whole dish the texture of goulash. It was very good, not overly lopsided on any particular flavor. Felt like eating a cornucopia style stew.