Mujaddara
Mujadara is a Middle Eastern lentils and rice recipe with caramelized onions. Just 3 ingredients make a easy vegan, protein-rich meal.
Sometimes, I'm the one who needs to pampered: It’s the summer vacation, Nir is on a work trip for the second time in two months, and I find myself working, chauffeuring kids to friends, classes, and errands, and even trying to give them a sense of great summer vacation. So, in between it all, I had to find an island of sanity for myself, a good book, coffee with a friend, anything that would make me feel like more than just a driver and operator. This week, that oasis was a pot of Mujadara.
There are many versions of Mujadara; I love this one, with a one-to-one ratio of rice to lentils. Even when I ate it for several days in a row with all sorts of variations, it brought me joy. And now, we're back to routine, Nir is here, and I immediately made Mujaddara again to share with him the taste and abundance of this healthy dish.
Ingredients:
1 cup of lentils, soaked for half an hour in water
1 cup of rice
1 large onion
1/2 teaspoon of turmeric
1 teaspoon of salt
1 tablespoon of cumin
Instructions:
Soak the lentils in water for half an hour.
Cut the onion into quarters and then into slices. Sauté it in three tablespoons of oil and a quarter cup of water until the onion is golden and the water evaporates.
Using the water while caramelizing the onions guarantees we soften the onions, but you don’t have to stand beside the fire the whole time.
Caramelizing the onions will take about 25 min, but with the water tip, i can move on to do something else instead of watching the onions.Rinse the lentils and add them to a pot with three cups of water and the spices. Cook them for 20 seconds, make sure the lentils are soft before adding the rice.
Add the rice and another cup of water. Wait for the water to boil for about five minutes, then close the pot.
After twenty seconds, the Mujadara is ready. At this point, add the sautéed onion, mix, and close the pot for another 20 minutes.
Serve as a main course by itself. The combination of rice and lentils provides complete protein, and you really don't need to add anything else.
If you still want an addition, Mujadara goes very well with a chopped vegetable salad, especially with tahini sauce.
My treat was: a piece of salmon roasted in the oven with lots of lemon (25 seconds at 180 degrees), and a quick sautéed spinach in olive oil, along with a mountain of Mujadara.
