Healthy Waists, Healthy Wallets: Mujaddara

The holiday season is wonderful! Family. Friends. Giving. Eating. And eating. And eating…

After the indulgences of the holiday season, we’re trying to get back on track, financially and nutritionally. But with food prices still through the roof, we’re working hard to eat in a way that is healthy for our waists and for our wallets. In this installment of Healthy Waists, Healthy Wallets, we present mujaddara.

This dish is almost ubiquitous throughout the Middle East and is simplicity itself. The lentils and rice combine to form a full protein. Served with a simple salad with a lemony dressing, hummus, olives, and pita, it’s a delicious and filling (and inexpensive!) vegan dinner. (There are about 287 different ways of spelling it, too. Seriously.)

Ingredients

1/3 cup olive oil
2 to 3 large yellow onions, halved and thinly sliced
4 ½ cups water
2 cups brown lentils, rinsed and drained
1 cup long grain white rice, rinsed
1 tablespoon cumin
Salt to taste

Directions

In a bowl, cover the rinsed rice with cold water and set aside.

In a skillet or sauté pan over medium heat, sauté the onions in the olive oil. Stir frequently until the onions are dark brown and are beginning to get crisp around the edges, about 25 minutes. Transfer to a plate and set aside. If you like, you can line the plate with a paper towel to absorb some of the olive oil, but this is part of the flavoring of the mujaddara.

While the onions are cooking, stir the lentils, a good pinch of salt, and the 4 ½ cups of water together in a large pot over medium-high heat. Bring to a boil, cover with a lid, and reduce the heat to medium-low. Simmer for 15 minutes. Drain the rice, rinse once again, and add to the lentils. Stir once, replace the lid, and cook for another 15 minutes.

Remove the pot of lentils and rice from the heat and rest, still covered, for another 5 minutes. Remove the lid, add the cumin, and fluff with a fork.

To serve, spoon the onions over the rice and lentils. Serves 6 to 8, depending how hungry they are!