Mejadra

Lentils, rice, and onions -- seemingly basic but tastes anything but that. Coriander, cumin, turmeric, all spice, and cinnamon come together creating the warmest and earthiness of flavors and the sweet richness of fried onions brings the perfect contrast.

Jerusalem: A Cookbook by Yotam Ottolenghi and Sami Tamimi was the first version of mejadra I’ve eaten and the one that wins my heart every time. Mejadra dates to the 13th century in the Arab world and has regional variations. Go ahead, do some research and try different styles. Go out on a limb and combine elements or update techniques. This dish was food for the people and I guarantee you they also modified it for their tastes or availability of ingredients.

P.S. Humble Pie time! Last time I made this dish I was cooking with a couple of friends and running my mouth. Y’all my rice was not cooking. Yes, I was using brown rice, but it was going on what seemed upwards of an hour and that’s too long to cook rice at sea level. One of my friends said, “Oh! Let me show you this trick we do back home.” I gasped and said, “you seriously telling a girl from Louisiana how to cook rice”. I did cave and use his method of putting a towel under the lid and we did have cooked rice. I’m intrigued by this method and haven’t found satisfying answers via Google if the end result differs. I plan on making red beans and rice during the next few days so I’ll report back with very unscientific findings.

This recipe is an adaptation from Jersualem. I subbed in ground spices for whole ones (yes, the amounts in the recipe reflect that) and I tweaked a few steps.

Mejadra Ingredients
cooking oil (peanut, canola, vegetable, etc)
4 medium-large onions
2 Tbl olive oil
1 ½ tsp ground cumin
1 Tbl ground coriander
½ tsp ground turmeric
1 ½ tsp ground allspice
1 ½ tsp ground cinnamon
½ tsp black pepper
½ tsp salt
2 c water
1 c brown rice
1 quart water
½ tsp salt
1 ¼ c green or brown lentils
yogurt (optional)

Mejadra Directions
In a Dutch oven or heavy bottom soup pot, add 1” of cooking oil to the bottom of the pot. Put it on medium high heat.

Slice off the two ends of 4 onions and cut it in half down the pole. Peel off the dry layer. Hold the cut side down and make thin slices across the equator to have semi-circles. Drop one piece of onion in the hot oil, if it sizzles, drop in the remaining onions. If it doesn’t, keep heating the oil. You should continue to hear sizzling and as the onion releases water, the liquid will boil. You can give it a quick stir every 15 minutes for about the first 45 minutes. Once the onions begin to take on color, give them a stir every five minutes or so. If they’re sticking to the bottom really bad, reduce the heat. They’ll become golden brown than dark brown. Pull the onions out with a slotted spoon. Depending on the thinness of your onion slices and the heat of the oil, you can count on it taking about 1-1:15 to cook. But please go by visual indicators.

Add 2 Tbl of olive oil to a 3-quart, heavy bottom pot. Heat it to a shimmer and add 1 ½ tsp cumin, 1 Tbl coriander, ½ tsp turmeric, 1 ½ tsp allspice, 1 ½ tsp cinnamon. Stir it. It should darken a little in color and become fragrant. Add ½ tsp black pepper, ½ tsp salt, and two cups of water. Cover it and turn the heat to high. When it boils, add 1 c of rice and stir it. Cover. Bring to a boil and lower to a simmer. After 45 minutes, remove from heat. Keep the lid on and allow the water to fully absorb. Fluff with a fork.

While the rice cooks, cook the lentils. In a 2-quart pot, add 1 quart of water, ½ tsp of salt, 1 ¼ c of lentils. Bring to a boil until the lentils are soft to bite.

Mix the cooked lentils (leave remaining water behind) into the cooked rice. Add ½ of the cooked onions and stir. When serving, add more cooked onions to the top of the dish. Serve with a dollop of yogurt (optional)

Notes
Most of the mejadra recipes call for basmati rice. I use long grain because that’s what I use in other dishes and I see no need to keep two kinds of brown rice on hand.

Traditionally, you would sprinkle a little flour on the sliced onions and fry them. If you do this, you’ll need to fry them in batches to not crowd the pot. Play around with the heat, you want a good sizzle and bubbles when you drop the onions into the pot. If your heat is right, it’ll take about 5 minutes to fry each batch. I prefer the flavor of darker colored onions and it’s easier to cook it that way. I almost never use the flour technique.

Speaking of frying onions, I’ve been seeing recipes for crispy (fried) onions in the microwave circulating the internet. I’ve tried it three different times with vastly different cooking times and outcomes. I do not recommend it at all. The flavor is decent, but the texture is terrible.