Dinner Tonight: Muhjadarrah

Tonight's dinner was inspired by the kitchn

My notes are in italics

Muhjadarrah

serves 6

A few bits of advise: be sure to caramelize the onion very deeply and to use plenty of salt and pepper. These are your only seasonings, so they're very important. Also, be sure to use brown or green lentils, not the orange ones which will just dissolve to a mush.

6 T olive oil - I used half palm oil and half canola oil.  Olive oil is much to expensive to waste frying food.

1 very large onion (or two medium) sliced into rounds 1/4 inch thick - I needed double the onion to get enough for the whole pot

1 1/4 cups green or brown lentils, sorted and rinsed - I only used 1 cup

3/4 cup white or brown long-grain rice - I used one cup brown rice to compensate for being short on the lentils

salt and freshly ground pepper

Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the onion and cook, stirring frequently, until it becomes a rich, dark brown color, about 12-15 minutes. Meanwhile, put the lentils into a saucepan with one quart of water. Bring to a boil and simmer 15 minutes. Add rice, plenty of pepper and more water, if needed, to cover. Cover and cook over low heat until rice is done, about 15 minutes (reverse these directions if you are using brown rice.  I cooked my lentils for the 45 minutes required to cook brown rice and they were mushy.  Start by cooking the brown rice, and add the lentils after 15 minutes). Stir in half the onions and about 1 teaspoon of salt, then cover and let stand off the heat for 5 minutes. Spoon the lentil-rice mixture on to a platter and cover with the remaining onions.

I serve this with a bowl of cubed feta cheese or good, thick yogurt; some jarred roasted red peppers tossed with sherry vinegar, olive oil and a little garlic; and Trader Joe's middle eastern flat bread, heated in the toaster oven until it puffs. Occasionally I go all out and make a tangy little salad of parsley, capers, shallots, lemon, s & p.  ( I only used salt and pepper - but some of the extras like roasted red peppers would be good).

I served my Muhadarrah with Allergen Free Flat Bread, olive oil for the bread, and roasted brussels sprouts.  My carnivorous hubby didn't even say anything about the lack of meat.