Shared by Lottie Bildirici
Shared by Lottie Bildirici
Mujadara (Rice With Lentils and Fried Onions)
Yield: 4-6 servingsTime: 1 hour
Mujadara (Rice With Lentils and Fried Onions)
Yield: 4-6 servingsTime: 1 hourFamily Journey
Aleppo, Syria
New York City
Mujadara is a Thursday night staple in Brooklyn's Syrian Jewish. The comforting dish of lentils, rice, and fried onions is centuries old. The earliest written recipe for it is found in “Kitab al-Tabikh,” an Arab cookbook written in Iraq in 1226 based on a collection of recipes from the ninth century. In Jewish communities in the Middle East, cooks prepared the simple-to-make mujadara on Thursdays so they could focus on preparation for Shabbat, culinary scholar Gil Marks writes in “The Encyclopedia of Jewish Food.” Historically, it was also popular on laundry or washing days, Sundays for the Jewish community and Saturdays for the Muslim one.
In cookbook author Lottie Bildirici's family, it’s served on Thursdays alongside a rich casserole of eggs, cheese, and spinach called jibon (or jiben), and a bowl of yogurt with diced cucumbers and mint. Her mother Claudia has even packed mujadara for family vacations and heated it up in places like Aruba.
Lottie also shared a version of the recipe made with cauliflower rice.
Read more about Lottie's family in "In This Syrian Community, There’s Always Mujadara on."
Ingredients
- 3 yellow onions, finely chopped, divided
- 2 cups short grain brown rice
- 1 cup brown lentils
- 5 tablespoons olive oil, divided
- 2 ½ teaspoons salt
Preparation
Step 1
Heat 3 tablespoons of olive oil into a medium pot over medium heat, add 2 of the chopped onions, and saute until they are translucent and golden brown, about 5-7 minutes.
Step 2
Add the rice into the pot and cook for about 3 minutes, stirring often.
Step 3
Pour 4 cups of water into the pot along with the lentils and 2 teaspoons of salt. Bring the mixture to a boil, and after 10 minutes, reduce the heat to low and cover the pot with a lid. Continue to simmer the mujadara until the rice and lentils are cooked through, about 45 minutes.
Step 4
Meanwhile, place the remaining 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Add the rest of the onions and ½ a teaspoon of salt. Fry the onions until they are a deep golden brown.
Step 5
Serve the mujadara hot and garnish with fried onions. Mujadara can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for 4-5 days.
