megadarra
Well, this I guess will have to be my entry for the beans IMBB. It's a simple dish, but given that the temperature today in my kitchen is around freezing point, it was about all I could manage, and exactly what I wanted to eat. It also sums up the essential qualities of the bean family - cheap, nourishing to body and soul, homely and divine in their simplicity. It's the poor man's food of the Middle East, known as megadarra, or mujadarra, or many variants of that word.
Nothing could be simpler - lentils, brown rice, onions, some spices. Sounds pretty boring - yet somehow it's one of the best foods. The key is the caramelized onions on top which somehow lift this dish to the sublime with their soothing sweetness, texture and intensity.
Basically, you put some brown rice on to cook with a bay leaf and salt, then finely chop an onion and some garlic and soften, adding plenty of ground cumin and coriander seed. Then add your lentils (ideally puy lentils, but ordinary brown ones will do), water in proportion (around twice as much water as lentils) bring to the boil then cover to simmer. Meanwhile chop up more onions into thin crescents (around half an onion per person) along with a bit more garlic, and saute slowly with salt in a heavy-bottomed frying pan. There's no way you can use a thin-bottomed one for this, much less a teflon monstrosity. They will cook down to a beautiful golden colour, sweet and soft.
When the lentils and rice are nearly done, add the one to the other to finish cooking (add more water if neccesary) and to blend the flavours. I tend not to cook them together from the start as they've got different cooking times, but they can be done together if you want to save washing-up.
Serve with the caramelized onions on top and a bowl of yoghurt mixed with peppermint on the side. It's so simple, yet somehow, for a cost of about a dollar per person, I can't think of something I'd rather eat on a cold Sunday evening.
PS. This dish is also really good as a side to grilled spiciy lamb chops, or just about any other grilled meat. It's also great the next day cold as a salad, with a bit of fresh coriander stirred in, for example.
Nothing could be simpler - lentils, brown rice, onions, some spices. Sounds pretty boring - yet somehow it's one of the best foods. The key is the caramelized onions on top which somehow lift this dish to the sublime with their soothing sweetness, texture and intensity.
Basically, you put some brown rice on to cook with a bay leaf and salt, then finely chop an onion and some garlic and soften, adding plenty of ground cumin and coriander seed. Then add your lentils (ideally puy lentils, but ordinary brown ones will do), water in proportion (around twice as much water as lentils) bring to the boil then cover to simmer. Meanwhile chop up more onions into thin crescents (around half an onion per person) along with a bit more garlic, and saute slowly with salt in a heavy-bottomed frying pan. There's no way you can use a thin-bottomed one for this, much less a teflon monstrosity. They will cook down to a beautiful golden colour, sweet and soft.
When the lentils and rice are nearly done, add the one to the other to finish cooking (add more water if neccesary) and to blend the flavours. I tend not to cook them together from the start as they've got different cooking times, but they can be done together if you want to save washing-up.
Serve with the caramelized onions on top and a bowl of yoghurt mixed with peppermint on the side. It's so simple, yet somehow, for a cost of about a dollar per person, I can't think of something I'd rather eat on a cold Sunday evening.
PS. This dish is also really good as a side to grilled spiciy lamb chops, or just about any other grilled meat. It's also great the next day cold as a salad, with a bit of fresh coriander stirred in, for example.
Comments
i love lentil mixed with rice. usually i use a type of red rice, which i prefer to brown, but this rendition with the caramelized onions and yogurt sounds so tasty. thanks for the recipe!
Cathy