Mujaddara: lentils, rice and crispy onions

Mujaddara is one of the cheapest, most comforting dishes in Levantine cooking: lentils and rice cooked together and topped with deeply browned onions. It costs very little, needs only a few cupboard ingredients and reheats well for lunches.

What you need (serves 2 as a main, 3 as a side)

• Half a cup (about 100 g) brown or green lentils, rinsed and checked for small stones. Avoid red lentils, which turn to mush.
• About a third of a cup (about 65 g) basmati rice.
• 4 tbsp olive oil, half a tsp cumin seeds, a quarter tsp cracked black pepper.
• 1 to 2 red or brown onions, thinly sliced (the onions are the star, so do not skimp).
• A quarter tsp ground cumin, a pinch of cayenne or chilli, a small piece of cinnamon stick, salt, about 1.5 cups (375 ml) water, a squeeze of lemon. Optional: plain yoghurt to serve, a few pine nuts.
• These are half the quantities of a Food Network recipe that serves 6, rounded for a smaller pan.

Method

• 1. Cook the lentils: cover them with about 2 to 3 cm of cold water, bring to the boil, then simmer for about 20 minutes until tender but not mushy. Drain.
• 2. Bloom the spices: warm the oil in a wide frying pan or saucepan over medium-high heat for about a minute, add the cumin seeds and pepper, and cook until the cumin darkens slightly.
• 3. Brown the onions: add the onions and a pinch of salt and stir often for about 15 minutes, until they are a deep chestnut brown with some crispy bits. Add a splash of water if they start to stick or burn.
• 4. Lift out about half the onions onto kitchen paper for the topping. Add the ground cumin, cayenne and cinnamon to the pan and stir for about 1 minute.
• 5. Add the rice and stir until some grains look toasted. Add the cooked lentils, the water and about half a tsp salt. Bring to the boil, then cover, lower the heat and simmer for about 30 minutes. If water remains, cook up to 5 minutes more.
• 6. Turn off the heat and leave the lid on for 5 minutes to steam. Remove the cinnamon, taste for salt, and serve topped with the reserved onions, a squeeze of lemon and yoghurt.

Getting the onions right

• Slice the onions thinly and evenly so they brown at the same speed (see Kitchen Skills, Knife skills).
• Be patient: the deep brown colour gives the dish its flavour. Pale onions make a bland mujaddara.
• Stir more often as they darken, because they go from brown to burnt quickly at the end.
• Never leave a pan of hot oil unattended. Kitchen Skills, Kitchen safety and food hygiene, explains what to do if a pan catches fire.

Swaps and serving ideas

• Short on time: use a drained tin of cooked brown or green lentils instead of cooking dried ones, and skip step 1.
• Rice swap: coarse bulgur is a common alternative; follow the packet for liquid and time.
• Make it a full meal: serve with yoghurt or cucumber and yoghurt, a chopped tomato and cucumber salad, or a fried egg on top.
• Spice it: add a little allspice or a spoon of baharat with the ground cumin.

Storage and safety

• This dish contains cooked rice, which needs care. Uncooked rice can carry spores of Bacillus cereus that survive cooking (Food Standards Scotland).
• Cool leftovers quickly, ideally within 1 hour: spread them in a shallow container and put them in the fridge as soon as they reach room temperature.
• Eat leftovers containing rice within 24 hours, reheat them until steaming hot all the way through, and never reheat rice more than once (Food Standards Scotland).
• Mujaddara is also good at room temperature for a packed lunch, as long as it was chilled properly first and eaten within that 24 hours.