Mujadara or Mejadra is a popular Middle Eastern dish. From what I've read it's the regions go to comfort food and after making it, I can see why! So what is it? Well if you've never heard of it, it's spiced basmati rice with lentils and crispy fried onions and it's absolutely delicious!!
The original recipe involves cooking the lentils separately, but I prefer to use a tin of ready cooked puy lentils as it's quicker and in my view, makes no difference to the end result. There are a mix of whole and ground spices in the recipe, with the whole spices adding some extra texture to the dish. However my preference is to bash the coriander and cumin seeds before using, but you can leave them whole or swap them out for ground.
Finally, traditionally the rice is simmered for 15 minutes on a low heat after it comes to the boil and then removed from the heat for 10 minutes before serving. I have found that the rice overcooks if I use this method so I remove it from the heat after it has come to the boil. You may have more success than me trying the authentic way!
Serves 4
For the crispy onions
250ml sunflower oil
2 large white onions
Salt
For the rice
2 tablespoons of olive oil
1 tablespoon of coriander seeds
1½ teaspoons of cumin seeds
½ teaspoon of ground turmeric
1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon of allspice
200g basmati rice
1 400g tin of puy lentils (or green lentils if you can't find puy)
Seasoning
To make the crispy onions
- Thinly slice the onions. Season with salt and mix well.
- Heat the olive oil in a deep pan.
- Once the oil is very hot, add ½ the sliced onion. Stir from time to time and watch for the onion to turn golden brown. This can take a bit of time but as soon as it turns brown remove from the pan with a slotted spoon. You need to do this quickly or the onion will burn.
- Add the remaining onion to the pan and repeat.
To make the rice
- Soak the rice in water for 30 minutes, then rinse and drain 4 to 5 times until the water runs clear.
- Drain the lentils.
- In a pestle and mortar, bash the coriander and cumin seeds.
- Dry fry them in a heavy based pan.
- As soon as the spices start to smell fragrant add a tablespoon of olive oil and the remaining spices. Fry for a minute or two being careful not to let them burn.
- Add the rice, a generous amount of salt and black pepper and the remaining olive oil.
- Stir well, then bring the mixture to the boil.
- Cover and remove from the heat.
- After 10 minutes, stir in the lentils and a handful of the crispy onions.
