Let’s face it, Arabic food takes forever to make. There are lots of steps and long cooking times, time I don’t have when I’m working full time and trying to conserve my culture simultaneously. That’s why I’ve decided to start a recipe series featuring traditional Arabic dishes, made much easier for those of us that have full time jobs and prefer to keep weekday cooking to 30 minutes or less. This is the third installment of the series. Don’t forget to check out previous posts in the Arabic Food Made Easy Series.
Mjaddara pronounced EM-JADARA isn’t really a hard dish to make. It’s quite simple, actually and is perfect for those “vegetarian days.” You know, at least once or twice a week when you have dinner sans meat. The last time I made mjaddara it turned out great, despite my issues cooking rice. I had a small problem though, mjaddara is usually served with plain yogurt. The last time, I had picked up nonfat vanilla yogurt instead of nonfat plain yogurt. It was a small disaster — but now I pay extra attention at the grocery store.
Mjaddara Recipe
Ingredients
1 cup Brown Lentils 2 cups Basmati Rice 1 medium Onion Salt, to taste 1 tablespoon Cumin 1 tablespoon Cardamom 1 tablespoon Seven Spice Vegetable OilDirections
Go through the brown lentils, picking out any stones or dirt then wash them and boil them in a pot until they are soft and edible (15 minutes on medium heat.) Wash the rice three times, then soak in hot water until the lentils are done. Cut the onion into long strips and fry in vegetable oil until golden brown. Remove half with a slotted spoon. Drain the water from the lentils and from the rice as well. Place the rice on top of the lentils in the pot and mix together. Add a teaspoon of vegetable oil, and mix the ingredients together over medium heat for two minutes. Add salt, pepper, cumin, and cardamom and seven spice. Cover with hot water (1 cm above the mixture). Once it boils, cover and let simmer on low heat until the water evaporates (about 25 minutes). Turn over (like a cake) in a big plate, and cover the top with the fried onion stripes. Serve with plain yogurt.Servings: 4
Nutrition Information: Cals 352. Carbs 46g. Fat 14g. Protein 12g.
Thank you habibati zayna I like it .Long time i didn’t do it especaily with salade and plain yougort {Laban}.