Mujaddara~ Rice & Lentils with Caramelized Onions

Mujaddara is a rice dish cooked with lentils and caramelized onions. According to Wikipedia Mujaddara is a Arabic word for "pockmarked" the lentils among the rice resembles pockmarks. This dish contains of rice, lentils and meat and served during celebrations. Without meat it was a medieval Arab dish commonly consumed by poor. Because of its importance in the diet, there is a saying in the Eastern Arab world " A hungry man would be willing to see his soul for a dish of Mujaddara".

Today we are starting with 4th week of Blogging Marathon 77. My theme for this week is "Recipes with Whole Grains". Whole Grain is a grain of any cereal  that contains the endosperm , germ and barn. The Cereal varieties include Wheat, Rice, Barley, Oats and Maize. For day 1, am here  with a healthy, simple yet delicious Lebanese rice dish " Mujaddara". This recipe needs rice and lentils as main ingredients. I have used brown rice and brown lentils here, you can replace them with any rice and lentils. This dish has many variations, like  Middle Eastern, Lebanon and  Palestine. Here  goes the recipe in a Middle Eastern style.......

Ingredients:


Brown rice  2 cups
Brown lentils 1 cup
Minced Garlic 1 spoon
Ground Cumin 1 teaspoon
Ground Coriander 1 teaspoon
Chili flakes / Ground Black pepper 1 spoon (optional)
Cinnamon stick 1 inch
Cloves 4
Onion sliced 1 cup
Chopped Parsley / Cilantro 3 spoons
Salt to taste
Olive oil 3 spoons
Water / Vegetable stock 3 cups
Sugar 1 spoon


Preparation:


In a  large pot add olive oil, sliced onions.
Saute and add sugar, cook till  onions are browned.
Remove half of the onions into a separate bowl for garnishing.
Add  minced garlic, ground cumin, coriander, cinnamon stick, cloves and chili flakes to rest of the onions and give it a stir.
Now add washed rice and lentils.
Add salt to taste and fry them for 2 minutes on medium flame.
Now add water or vegetable stock.
Cook on high flame for 5- 8 minutes, when the bubbles appear turn the flame to low- medium.
Cover and cook till the rice and lentils are completely cooked.
Now transfer the rice to serving bowl and garnish with rest of the caramelized onions and chopped parsley.
Serve hot with yogurt.

Check to see what my fellow bloggers are cooking for BM 77.