Mujadara Recipe- Lentil and Rice and Everything Nice

I don’t cook a lot lately. In the madness between home and work, I cling tightly to my mom’s food which she sends after Shabbat, and pray that it will last all week long.
But my Noam asked for lentils and rice, aka- Mujadara.

My Noam is every Jewish mom’s / grandma’s nightmare when it comes to food. This child lives on olives. He literally refuses to eat anything else.
So when he wants to eat something, I cook: his wish is my command. Especially since Mujadara is definitely one of my favorite dishes.

I will start by saying (write?) that there are countless recipes for Mujadara. And God forbid, I do not pretend to invent the wheel or anything, but only to share with you my own recipe for this comforting delight called Mujadara.

Recipe

1  cup of black lentils

½  A cup of  Jasmine / Basmati rice

1 yellow onion

1  teaspoon of salt

1/3  teaspoon of cumin

¼ cup of vegetable oil for frying

Preparation

1. Soak the lentils and the rice in two separate bowls full with water. Soak them for about 40-60 minutes

2. Wash the lentils and cook them in a pot with boiling water (like you cook pasta) for about 15-20 minutes. Note that the lentils should not be fully cooked yet – so if you have tasted and seen that they are not yet soft, it is fine

3. Strain the lentils, rinse and set aside

4. Cut onion into small cubes

5. Heat the oil in a pot and fry the onion until browned

6. Add the washed lentils to the pot and fry everything together for another 2-3 minutes on a medium hit

7. Rinse the rice and add to the pot

8. Add the salt and the cumin

9. Pour over everything a cup of boiling water, mix the entire contents of the pot and cover with a lid

10. After boiling, lower the heat and cook for another 20 minutes

Notes

– Most people cooks Mujadara with green lentils, which is all good, but it’s taste better with black lentils- trust me

– You can replace the rice with cracked wheat/ quinoa, but of course the amount of water and the cooking time will change

– A lot of people cooks Mujadara with more rice than lentils, or at least the same ratio (cup to cup), I prefer to have more lentils than rice in my dish, because it is tastier and healthier  🙂

And that’s it!! How easy was that???
Did you like this recipe? Do you have any questions?  Write me here in the comments section!

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