Mujaddara

A Levantine dish consisting of rice, lentils and caramelized onions. Great on its own, but easy to modify and make additions to to make it even better!

Ingredients

• 1 cup long grain rice, preferably Basmati
• 2 cups lentils, preferably green or brown
• 4½ cups of water
• 2+ yellow onions
• ½ cup olive oil

Seasonings

• Absolute Musts
  • Salt
  • Cumin
• Good Additions
  • MSG
  • Black pepper
  • Allspice
  • Garlic Powder
  • Bay leaves
  • Sage
  • Cinnamon
  • Chili powder
  • Bouillon or broth instead of water (reduce salt if you do!)
  • Whatever the heart desires!

Toppings

• Yogurt or Khyar bi Laban
• Green onions
• Pumpkin seeds
• Chili crisp or Salsa Macha
• Whatever the heart desires!

Instructions

1. Start with caramelizing the onions, just chop them up however you like, add some salt and cook them down in the olive oil for about an hour or until your preferred level of jammyness. An analogue rice cooker is great for this task since it will never let you burn the onions and keep them warm until serving.
2. starch and dust, add them to your rice cooker or pot along with your choice of spices and water and cook! If you prefer your lentils a little more al dente just keep them separate from the rice and add them 5-10 minutes after you've started cooking the rice.
3. Serve and add onions + your choice of other toppings!

Rice Cooker Proselytization

Although not necessary using a rice cooker for this recipe makes it a simple set and forget cooking experience. Of course the main use of one would be to cook the rice and lentils, ensuring that they are cooked to perfection every time, are never burnt and will kept at the perfect serving temperature indefinitely; however, an analogue rice cooker also excels at caramelizing the onions! This is because simple one button rice cookers detect if the pot has exceeded the boiling point and if so switches over to the keep warm setting. This means that you can just leave your onions in one unattended and if the bottom layer gets too hot it stops cooking it so they won't burn. I usually stir the onions up and restart the cooker 2-3 times to get the onions to the level of caramelization that I prefer.

Additions

Perhaps the best part of this recipe is how easily you can customize and add to it! 

Garlic

Add anywhere from a few cloves to a whole head of crushed or minced garlic to the pot along with the olive oil and cook lightly to infuse the oil before adding the the rice, lentils, water, etc.

If you're already blooming your garlic like this some other spices like whole peppercorns, allspice and cinnamon bark can also be added.

Sautéed Vegetables

Sautéing vegetables like onions, peppers or zucchini perhaps with tomato paste or puree work great as saucy onion jam alternative.

Roasted Squash and Eggplant

You don't need to do both but winter squash and eggplant, cut into medallions, coated with a bit of olive oil, salt and pepper and then roasted at ~400°F for 30-45 minutes make an amazing addition.

Whether fresh, marinated or fried, tofu is great add for extra protein and textural variety!