Mujadara (lentils and rice with crispy onions)
Earthy lentils and rice cooked together and piled with a tangle of deeply browned, crispy onions, a Middle Eastern pantry dinner that’s far more than the sum of its parts.
- 60 min total
- 30 min hands-on
- Follow-a-recipe easy
- Serves 4
- About $1.14 a serving
- 620 calories
- Good the next day
- Vegetarian
- Gluten-free
Dolly says: Make the full amount. It’s just as good for lunch the next day.
Ingredients
For 4 servings.
- 1 cup lentils, brown or green, rinsed
- 2 yellow onions, large, halved and thinly sliced
- 1 cup long-grain white rice, rinsed
- ½ cup plain greek yogurt, for serving (optional)
- 2 tbsp fresh parsley, chopped (optional)
From your pantry
- 5¾ cups water, divided
- ½ cup olive oil
- 1¾ tsp salt, divided
- 1½ tsp ground cumin
- ¼ tsp ground cinnamon
- ¼ tsp black pepper
Each serving has about 620 calories, 16 g protein, 76 g carbs and 28 g fat, and costs about $1.14 at typical US grocery prices. Both are estimates from what the recipe uses.
Missing something?
- No yellow onions? White onions or red onions work.
- No long-grain white rice? Jasmine rice or basmati rice works.
- No plain greek yogurt? Plain yogurt or sour cream works.
- No fresh parsley? Cilantro works.
Steps
Tap an underlined word for a quick explanation.
Put the lentils in a medium with 4 cups water and over high heat. and 12 minutes, until just tender, then .
Saucepan. A saucepan is a pot with tall, straight sides and one long handle. It’s for things that need depth, like rice, sauces or a few boiled eggs.
How you’ll know: The food fills it about halfway, leaving room to bubble without spilling over.
Bring to a boil. It means heating a liquid on high until it’s fully boiling before you move on. A lid on the pot gets it there faster, which makes it a good moment to chop something.
How you’ll know: Big bubbles break all over the surface, and they keep coming when you lift the lid.
Reduce the heat. It means turning the burner down, usually to medium-low or low, so food cooks gently instead of hard. Electric burners cool slowly, so lift the pan off for a moment if it’s bubbling hard.
How you’ll know: Within a minute the bubbling calms to a gentle simmer, or the sizzle turns quiet.
Simmer. Simmering means keeping a liquid just below a boil, with small bubbles rising gently. It cooks food evenly and lets a sauce thicken without scorching on the bottom.
How you’ll know: Small, lazy bubbles break the surface every second or so, and nothing is churning.
Drain. Draining means pouring off liquid, like tipping pasta into a colander or spooning extra fat out of the pan. Pour hot grease into a can or jar, not the sink, where it hardens and clogs the pipes.
How you’ll know: Only a few drips are left, and the food isn’t sitting in a puddle.
Medium heatTimer: 12 min
While the lentils cook, heat the oil in a large with a lid over medium-high heat. Add the onions and ½ teaspoon salt.
Skillet. A skillet is a frying pan: wide and flat with low, sloped sides. The shape lets steam escape, so food browns instead of stewing.
How you’ll know: It’s the pan you’d fry an egg in, and a 10 or 12 inch one handles most recipes.
Medium-high heat
Cook, stirring every few minutes, 20 to 25 minutes, until the onions are deep and at the edges. if they darken too fast.
Brown. Browning means cooking until the outside turns brown, which is where a lot of savory flavor comes from. Give food room and time without stirring, or it steams and stays gray.
How you’ll know: The food looks brown rather than gray, and the kitchen smells toasty and savory.
Crispy. Crispy means the outside is dry, firm and crunchy. It comes from high heat, a little oil and room in the pan, because crowded food steams and goes soft.
How you’ll know: It sounds crunchy when you tap or bite it, and it doesn’t flop when you lift it.
Reduce the heat. It means turning the burner down, usually to medium-low or low, so food cooks gently instead of hard. Electric burners cool slowly, so lift the pan off for a moment if it’s bubbling hard.
How you’ll know: Within a minute the bubbling calms to a gentle simmer, or the sizzle turns quiet.
Medium-high heatTimer: 22 min
Dolly’s tip: They go pale, then golden, then brown all at once. Stay close for the last 5 minutes.Lift out about half the onions with a slotted spoon onto a paper towel and sprinkle with of salt. These are the topping.
Pinch. A pinch is what you can hold between your thumb and two fingers, less than an eighth of a teaspoon. It’s a small, forgiving amount, so there’s no need to measure.
How you’ll know: It’s a light sprinkle you can barely see on the food, not a little pile.
Crispy. Crispy means the outside is dry, firm and crunchy. It comes from high heat, a little oil and room in the pan, because crowded food steams and goes soft.
How you’ll know: It sounds crunchy when you tap or bite it, and it doesn’t flop when you lift it.
Add the rice, cumin and cinnamon to the onions and oil left in the pan and stir for 1 minute, until the rice is coated.
Medium heatTimer: 1 min
Add the lentils, 1¾ cups water, 1¼ teaspoons salt and the pepper. , then cover, turn the heat to low and cook 18 minutes.
Bring to a boil. It means heating a liquid on high until it’s fully boiling before you move on. A lid on the pot gets it there faster, which makes it a good moment to chop something.
How you’ll know: Big bubbles break all over the surface, and they keep coming when you lift the lid.
Low heatTimer: 18 min
Take it off the heat and leave it covered 5 more minutes, then fluff with a fork.
Timer: 5 min
Pile onto plates, top with the onions, and serve with a spoonful of yogurt and some parsley.
Crispy. Crispy means the outside is dry, firm and crunchy. It comes from high heat, a little oil and room in the pan, because crowded food steams and goes soft.
How you’ll know: It sounds crunchy when you tap or bite it, and it doesn’t flop when you lift it.
Plan this in Dollop, and get the grocery list
Dollop puts this dinner on a night that suits your week, lists only what you still need to buy, and walks you through each step while you cook.
