Mujadarra

bluesagegirl's Note:

This is a fantastic lentil dish. In my quest to find healthier food that my family liked and would actually eat, I decided to try this recipe. It was demonstrated on T.V. by Ali Sabbah from the Mazza Cafe, a Jewish restaurant, in Salt Lake City. My family just ate this up, even my picky five year old boy. I had to post it before I lost the recipe.

• Total Time: 45 mins
• Prep Time: 10 mins
• Cook Time: 35 mins

Ingredients:

Serves: 4-8

Yield: 6.0 cups

• 3 large onions, sliced to thick 1/2 inch rounds
• 3/4 cup olive oil
• 1 1/2 cups lentils, washed and drained
• 1 cup long grain rice
• 3 garlic cloves, crushed
• 4 1/2 cups water

Seasonings mix

• 2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 teaspoon paprika
• 1 teaspoon allspice
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

Directions:

1. Mix the seasoning ingredients together.(salt, cinnamon,black pepper, paprika, all-spice,cumin)Set aside.
2. In a heavy pot, fry the onions on med-high heat, stirring occasionally, until golden brown. (Do not skip this step, it adds greatly to the flavor, you can however, cut out some of the olive oil, but I wouldn't cut out more than half.).
3. Remove onions with a slotted spoon, and set them aside, leaving the oil in the pot.
4. Reduce heat to medium, add the garlic and seasoning mixture. Stir for 2 minutes. Do not burn the garlic.
5. Add the water and bring it to a boil, then add the lentils, stir gently and let simmer for 5 minutes.
6. Add the rice, reduce the heat to low, cover and cook for 20 minutes.
7. Remove from the heat let sit for five minutes,remove the lid and stir in the onions.
8. Serve and enjoy!

Reviews

[Michele of Eagan]

Wow, this is excellent; my DH and I really enjoyed the flavors. Great mix of spices. I did add 1 1/2 cups of frozen peas at the end for a bit of color. For two of us I halved the recipe and still had leftovers. I have a niece who is a strict Vegan and this will be perfect for her. It took about 45 minutes for the onions to caramelize, but well worth the time. Next time i make this I will halve the onion rounds, so they are easier to eat. Thank you bluesagegirl.

[Esther in Atlanta, GA]

A really nice and easy recipe, I used red lentils will try with green next time

[Dimpi]

After tasting the most awesome Mujadarra at Kalustyan's in Manhattan, I've been wanting to try making it at home for a while now. I finally got around to it today and very happy I did. I only had 1 cup of lentils (the brown variety) so I scaled down the recipe a bit. Last night I washed and soaked the lentils and 3/4 cup rice separately. Also, I couldn't bring myself to use 3/4 cup of oil to fry the onions, so I used a nonstick pan with 1 tsp butter and 1 tbsp oil. The onion wasn't crispy but it was caramelized with crispy edges and delicious. I needed just over 3 cups of water. Next time I might dice the onions so that they distribute more evenly and perhaps increase the ratio of rice to lentils. I served this with a spicy chicken curry. Thank you, bluesagegirl, for posting this wonderful recipe!