The Pioneer Woman Tasty Kitchen
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Mujadara: Rice, Lentils & Caramelized Onions

4.71 Mitt(s) 7 Rating(s)7 votes, average: 4.71 out of 57 votes, average: 4.71 out of 57 votes, average: 4.71 out of 57 votes, average: 4.71 out of 57 votes, average: 4.71 out of 5

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Level: Easy

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Description

After hav­ing Mujadara many times at local Mid­dle Eastern (par­tic­u­larly Lebanese) restau­rants, my hus­band set off to learn how to make it him­self. It has since become one of our go-to din­ners. It’s sim­ple, easy and trans­ports you to a far-off land with one taste of this dish. I can feel the desert heat, smells the scents of spice markets and hear the sounds of peo­ple walk­ing around through­out these lands.

Ingredients

  • 1 cup Lentils
  • 4 whole Onions
  • 3-½ cups Water
  • 1 cup White Rice
  • 1 teaspoon Cumin
  • 1 teaspoon Salt
  • ½ teaspoons Pepper
  • 2 Tablespoons Vegetable Oil

Preparation

Slice the onions. The onions should be sliced long, so they look like a rain­bow ver­sus diced into small pieces.

Heat a pot on medium-high heat. Add 1 table­spoon of veg­etable oil and half an onion. Cook until onion is caramelized.

Add lentils, water, salt and pep­per. Bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat and sim­mer for 20 minutes.

After 20 min­utes, add rice and cumin. Cover and sim­mer for addi­tional 20 minutes.

Heat a fry­ing pan over medium-high heat. Add the remain­ing 1 table­spoon of veg­etable oil and the remain­ing onions. Cook until fully caramelized and blackened.

Note: we used green lentils and yel­low onions for this dish.

We usu­ally serve our Mujadara with hum­mus and pita. Let me tell you, it goes fast. And it is a great meal to have when you are look­ing for some­thing meat­less, easy, and delicious.

19 Comments

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browngrl on 1.12.2011

just saw the comment on using green or red lentils – red lentils will go mushy and are better for soups – if you want to substitute green lentils – use Puy lentils (they are a bit smaller than green lentils but maintain their shape better – taste about the same though)

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browngrl on 1.12.2011

I have been tying to eat more beans so I was happy to find this recipe. I did make some changes. I toasted the cumin and increased the amount to about 1 1/2 tsp, I added a cinnamon stick and a bit of chili garlic sauce to the lentil/rice/water mix. I carmelized the onions with a little bit of balsamic vinegar and maple syrup and used part oil/butter to carmelize the onions. I served it topped with a “salad” of tomatoes, green onions, fresh mint, lemon and parsley. It was great – thanks for giving me a great recipe idea!

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Lurach on 7.13.2010

We had this for dinner tonight along with homemade hummus and pitas, and this is a wonderful recipe for Mujadara. I made two alterations to accommodate the ingredients I had on hand:

1. I used beef stock in place of the water because I had some that needed to be used up.

2. I only had brown rice in the pantry, so I used that in place of the white rice and added it at the same time as the lentils and cooked it the full 40 minutes.

The Hubby started commenting on how good it smelled when he walked in the door from work…and he ate 2 helpings. Success!! Thank you so much for the recipe.

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confusedhomemaker on 5.6.2010

Christianne–

Yes, you can make it with red lentils. Just make sure to watch them a little more because I’ve heard in this dish they soften up a little faster than green ones.

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Christianne on 4.21.2010

Could I make this with red lentils? I have no clue what the difference is, but I have a bag of red lentils!

7 Reviews

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hellosal on 5.22.2011

This is not a fancy recipe but it is definitely five mitts for making a great dish with the most basic and inexpensive of ingredients. The kids love it. A salad of cucumbers and tomatoes on the side and dinner is served for seven people for only a few dollars!

I made one change in that I used brown rice and added it at the same time as the lentils to account for the increased cooking time of brown rice v. white rice. It turned out great.

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michelleok on 12.1.2010

Even the men and kids like this one! Delicious main dish. I caramelized all the onions at once. Made it a fairly quick meal.

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Lindsay on 8.29.2010

Loved it.

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kathipaul on 8.5.2010

I thought I would love this dish, but I just didn’t. The flavors were too subtle for me, and the texture too mushy. A small portion would be good as a side dish, but I was really looking for a lentil dish that could work as a main course.

Also, this dish took an hour to make. It is not a difficult dish, but caramelizing the onions takes a lot of patience, and a very long time. I think that changing the recipe to start caramelizing the second set of onions earlier in the process would have significantly sped this up.

I’m sorry to say that I will not be making this again.

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teachermomofthree on 8.3.2010

I made this for dinner tonight. It was really good. I did have to add a bit more salt than the recipe called for though.

We had pita bread and roasted red pepper hummus with it. We thought the hummus made a great addition.

I will be making this again.

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