Mujadara 🧅 lentils & rice 🇱🇧

Description

Comforting Levantine pilaf of brown lentils and rice crowned with deep-gold caramelized onions—simple pantry food that eats like a feast. 🌿

Hook
Make onions properly brown, then steam rice and lentils in the same pot for fluffy grains and creamy lentils. 🔥

Ingredients

• 🫘 Brown/green lentils, dry: 250 g (1¼ cups / 8.8 oz)
• 🌾 Long-grain rice (rinsed): 200 g (1 cup / 7.1 oz)
• 🧅 Yellow onions, thinly sliced: 600 g (4 cups packed / 1.3 lb)
• 🫒 Olive oil: 45 ml (3 tbsp / 1.5 fl oz)
• 🧄 Garlic, minced: 6 g (2 cloves / 0.2 oz)
• 🧂 Fine salt: 10 g (1¾ tsp / 0.35 oz)
• 🌶️ Ground cumin: 3 g (1 tsp / 0.11 oz)
• 🌿 Ground coriander or allspice (optional): 1 g (½ tsp / 0.04 oz)
• 💧 Water or light veg stock: 1.2 l (5 cups / 40 fl oz)
• 🍋 To serve: lemon wedges, chopped parsley, black pepper

Preparation

1. 1️⃣ Caramelize the onions
2. Heat 30 ml (2 tbsp) oil in a wide pan over medium. Add onions and ½ tsp salt, cook 18–22 min, stirring, until deep golden. Reserve ⅓ for topping.
3. 2️⃣ Start the lentils
4. In a pot, combine lentils and 800 ml (3⅓ cups) water. Bring to a boil, then simmer 12 min until just tender (not soft). Drain if much water remains.
5. 3️⃣ Build the pot
6. Return lentils to the pot with rinsed rice, cumin, coriander/allspice, garlic, remaining 15 ml (1 tbsp) oil, the sautéed onions, 10 g salt (adjust), and 400 ml (1⅔ cups) fresh water (liquid should sit ~1 cm above rice).
7. 4️⃣ Cook
8. Bring to a gentle boil, cover, reduce heat to low, and cook 12–14 min until liquid is absorbed.
9. 5️⃣ Steam & finish
10. Turn off heat, keep covered 10 min. Fluff with a fork. Top with the reserved onions, parsley, pepper, and a squeeze of lemon.

Total Time

⏱️ Prep: 10 min

🍳 Cooking: 40 min

😌 Rest: 10 min

🕒 Total: 60 min

Back to full recipe