Mujadara
Senior Editor
Abuja, Nigeria ·
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Abuja, Nigeria ·
Mujadara is lentils and rice cooked together and topped with deeply caramelised onions, and the source names it a signature Middle Eastern dish. It belongs to the Levant rather than to Africa, and it sits in Worldwide Recipes for that reason. The name is unflattering and accurate. In Arabic mujaddara means riddled with small holes, or pockmarked, and it describes the appearance of the lentils scattered through the rice. It is nicknamed the dish of the poor everywhere it is eaten, because it contains no meat and nothing expensive, and the source makes a fair comparison: mujadara is to the Middle East what couscous is to the Maghreb. Its age is what makes attribution impossible. The first recorded recipe goes back centuries, and as the source observes, the older and simpler a dish is, the more cultures claim its paternity. What matters technically is the onions: they need to be fried until the edges genuinely curl and darken, and the flavoured oil they leave behind is poured into the pot without them, so the onions stay crisp on top rather than softening into the rice.
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Put the drained lentils in a large Dutch oven and cover with four times their volume of cold water.
the first 10 on high heat and the next 10 on medium to high.
Add the rice and 3/4 cup of boiling water. Mix well and cook uncovered for 15 minutes over medium heat, stirring regularly.
Add a little more boiling water if the rice absorbs it quickly.
A few minutes before the end, season with salt and pepper and mix well.
While the lentils and rice cook, heat the olive oil in a large skillet and fry the sliced onions until the edges curl and turn golden brown.
When both are ready, pour the hot oil into the mujadara pot without the onions, and mix well.
Arrange on a plate and top with the fried onions.
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