If you're looking for a quick and hearty meal with a tasty Middle Eastern spin, you've come to the right place. Lebanese mujadara is a wholesome dish packed with wonderful flavours, ready in just 30 minutes. Let us show you how to make it!
Mujadara is a humble dish that consists of lentils and rice cooked in vegetable stock and seasoned with earthy spices. Once soft and fluffy, the rice is topped with a generous serving of caramelised onions and served with freshly chopped coriander and a dollop of yogurt.
Also known as mujaddara or mujadarah, mujadara is a very popular dish in the Middle East, where lentils are a staple ingredient in many recipes. In some variations, the cooked lentils and rice are pureéd into a pudding-like consistency, but we like our mujadara chunky with intact grains and legumes.
In our recipe, we used dried brown lentils, but you can also use the canned ones or other types of lentils, like greeen or red. As for the rice, we opted for brown rice, which is higher in fibres and less refined than white rice, making it a healthier choice. The classic mujadara seasoning includes cumin and cinnamon, but we also added ground turmeric, which gives the rice a lovely colour.
What we love the most about this recipe are the caramelised onions. They're sweet and soft — a real delight. To make them, you'll need to slow cook finely sliced onions in a skillet for 20-30 minutes, which you can easily do whilst the rice and lentils cook. Just stir them frequently, add a splash of water if needed, and let the natural sugars in the onions slowly caramelise.
One serving of this Lebanese mujadara has only 360 calories, and yet it provides 30% of your RDI of proteins, 35% RDI of fibres, and only 10% RDI of fats. Enjoy it alone or with a refreshing tomato, cucumber, and mint salad. Oh, don't forget to top the rice with a nice big spoon of seasoned yogurt for maximum taste!
Ingredients
| Extra Virgin Olive Oil | 2 tbsp |
| Ground Cumin | 2 tsp |
| Red Onions | 4 |
| Ground Cinnamon | 1 tsp |
| Ground Turmeric | 1/2 tsp |
| Brown Lentils (raw) | 150 g |
| Brown Rice | 240 g |
| Vegetable Stock | 700 mL |
Step 1
Heat 1 tbsp of oil in a skillet, then add finely sliced onions and 1 tsp of cumin.
Cover and let the onions soften over medium heat for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Step 2
Then, remove the lid and let the onions brown and caramelise for 10 more minutes.
If needed, add a splash of water to prevent the onions from burning and keep stirring them as they cook.
Step 3
While the onions cook, let's prepare the rice and lentils.
Take a large pan and heat the remaining oil and spices.
Add rinsed lentils and brown rice and cook for a minute while stirring.
Step 4
Next, pour in the vegetable stock and season with salt and pepper to taste.
Bring to a boil, and simmer the lentil rice for 25 minutes until the water has been absorbed and the rice is tender.
Step 5
Finally, stir the caramelised onions into the cooked rice.
You can serve this delicious Lebanese mujadara with chopped coriander, tahini dressing or sumac sauce. It also goes well with a tomato, cucumber, and mint salad.
Tips
You can swap raw lentils with canned ones, using 120g (4 oz) per person. Add them to the skillet after the rice has been cooking for already 10-15 minutes so they won't get mushy.