Middle Eastern · Main
Mujadara
- Easy
- 50 min
- roughly 1 of 4 for cost
- Vegetarian
Leads with an earthy, grounding base, acid holding everything up to the light, ending saline and clean.
Ingredients
- 200g green or brown lentils
- 200g rice
- 4 large onions, sliced thin
- Lots of olive oil
- 1 tsp cumin, salt
- Yogurt, chopped salad
The skills inside
Caramelizing onionsSautéing & the shallow fry
Allergen screen
Found: dairy
Screened for: gluten, dairy, egg, nuts, peanuts, fish, shellfish, molluscs, soy, sesame, celery, mustard, lupin, alcohol. Not screened: sulphites.
Screened by keyword from the ingredient list, not reviewed by a person; check every label for what the list cannot show.
Method
- Fry onions low and slow in generous oil until deep mahogany and half-crisp, 25 min. Reserve half. 25 min
- Simmer lentils 12 min; add rice, cumin, water to cover by 2cm. 12 min
- Fold in half the onions; cook covered 15 min, rest 10. 15 min
- Crown with the crispy onions and cold yogurt.
How to tell it is going right
This dish has no standard of its own yet. It is judged on the technique it exercises: checked at the pan, while there is still something to be done about it.
Sautéing & the shallow fry 80 recipes
- Everything sits in a single layer with visible space between the pieces: nothing stacked, nothing touching, or the pan is too small for the quantity.
- The pieces move freely and keep moving, sliding across the pan rather than sticking and tearing when the pan is worked.
- Light even browning arrived at quickly: colour on most faces, not the deep crust of a sear and not grey.
- A thin film of fat with the food glossed by it: no pool left in the pan at the end, and nothing greasy on the fingers or the plate.
- Cooked through but still firm, having spent only a few minutes in the pan: anything that has gone soft has been in there too long.
Where it goes wrong Too much went in at once, the pan cooled, and the food released its water: what was meant to brown in three minutes stews for ten and comes out grey, slack and wet.
At the Table
- The Pour
- Grüner Veltliner
- Also Right
- Vermentino or dry Chenin
- From the Taps
- Saison
- Zero-Proof
- Sparkling water with citrus & herbs
The vegetable whisperers: peppery, high-acid whites that flatter greens, roots, and grains without bullying them.
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