Mujadra

- Serves 5 - 6 
This humble Levantine dish is not just easy to make but ready within minutes. Consisting of simply cooked green lentils with long-grain rice and a big handful of caramelized onions, it’s a delicious vegetarian meal that families eat at least once every fortnight. No matter what you do, DO NOT skimp on onions here, in fact the more fried onions you add to this dish the more you are going to uplift the flavor. Although traditionally enjoyed with a simple salad or Greek yogurt, I love this rice dish with pan-roasted papadams and my cooling cucumber raita . Enjoy the recipe!

Ingredients for Mujadra

1/3 cup olive oil
450g onions, sliced into half moons
150-200 grams brown or green lentils, dried
750ml water, for lentils
2 bay leaves 
200g Basmati Rice, soaked in water for 1 hour
1 teaspoon cumin powder
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
1 teaspoons ground cinnamon 
1 teaspoon ground all-spice
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon sea-salt plus more for sprinkling on onions
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

Recipe
  1. Heat a heavy-base saucepan on medium-high flame. Add olive oil followed by onions and a sprinkle of salt; fry onions for 12-15 minutes, stirring them occasionally, until crispy golden brown all over. Remember to stir constantly toward the end, to prevent burning. Use a slotted spoon to transfer the onions into a colander - set aside.
  2. Rinse lentils and place in a saucepan. Add water, and bay leaves. Bring to the boil, reduce heat to low, cover and cook for about 8-10 minutes until lentils are al-dente. Drain lentils through a colander; save lentil water into a cup to cook the rice.
  3. Using the same saucepan as the onions, heat leftover olive oil on medium flame. Drop in cooked lentils along with half of the caramelized onions.
  4. Drain rice and add to saucepan, followed by cumin, turmeric, cinnamon, all-spice, sugar, 1 teaspoon sea-salt and ground pepper. Stir well to coat the rice in oil.
  5. Add 540ml lentil water, bring to the boil, cover and let it simmer for 12-15 minutes until rice is fully cooked.
  6. Garnish the rice with the rest of the fried onions and serve hot with salad, Cucumber Raita or Greek yogurt.
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