Mujadarah - Lentils & Rice

MUJADARAH

This is one of my favorite Lebanese family recipes. Basically, it's rice, lentils, onions and spices. This is such an inexpensive dinner to put together, makes great leftovers and tastes so good! This goes great with pita bread (see recipe below), hummus and a nice side salad.

INGREDIENTS:
1 1/4 cup lentils, rinsed
2 cups instant rice
3 large onions, finely sliced
4 1/2 cups water
1 tablespoon cumin
salt and pepper
1/2 cup oil (I use Canola)

DIRECTIONS:
In a deep frying pan, add oil and finely sliced onions. Cook over medium-high heat. Try not to stir too often, as this slows down the browning process. At first it may appear you have a ton of onions but, trust me, they cook down a lot. Fry onions until dark brown, but not burnt.

onions before ...

and after ...

Meanwhile, in a large pot, combine lentils, water and a pinch of salt. Cook over medium-high heat for 10 minutes, or until lentils are half way cooked.

Add rice and cumin. Reduce heat to low, cover and cook until water is absorbed and rice is tender, stirring often. Once the water is absorbed, remove from heat.

When the onions are dark brown, add to the rice/lentil mixture and stir to combine. Season with salt and pepper, to taste.