Mejadarah
This is an Arab dish, common in Lebanon, Syria and Palestine. It is highly satisfying as its flavours are deep and comforting. Serve it with goat’s yoghurt or tomato and red onion salad and you have a wonderful vegetarian main course.
Slice the onion, lightly salt and place in a colander to get rid of some of the liquids.
In a saucepan, place the lentils and 750ml of cold water. Cook for 25 minutes or until the lentils have softened but still have a bite.
In a separate large saucepan, toast the cumin seeds until they start to “dance”. Add the rice, olive oil, cinnamon and turmeric. Make sure the rice is coated evenly with the oil. Add the cooked lentils with their liquid and the remaining water. Add salt and pepper. Bring to the boil, cover and simmer on a very low heat for 20mins. Leave covered for another 10 minutes.
While the rice in simmering deep fry the onion till golden brown. Place on kitchen paper. Mix half the onion through and taste for seasoning. Plate the rice and garnish with the rest of the onion.
Serves
- 120g basmati rice
- 120g brown lentils
- 1lt water
- ½ Tbsp cumin seeds
- ½ tsp ground turmeric
- ½ tsp ground cinnamon
- 2 Tbsp olive oil
- Salt and pepper
- 1 large onion
- Vegetable oil for deep-frying
