A delicious, aromatic, hearty, lentil-rice pilaf with caramelized onions and delicate spices. This pilaf is called Mujadara’ and is enjoyed all across the Levantine region. Its vegan, making it an excellent week night meal or part of your weekly meal prep or can be part of your holiday celebratory dining.
Ingredient Highlights
- Lentils: I used green lentil (affiliate links) for this one. You don’t need to soak the lentils as this cooks fast. Rinse and add them to a small saucepan along with water, cook the lentils for 15-18 minutes or until they’re almost cooked through, but with a little firmness. Older lentils may take more time to cook than if you’ve just purchased them recently.
- Rice: I highly recommend using good quality basmati rice. My favorite brand for basmati rice (affiliate link) it’s the most fragrant and has consistently perfect texture, but use what’s available at your store. Rinse and soak the rice for about 20 minutes in cold water.
- Caramelized Onions: take your time to caramelize the onions, its key to the dish. You’ll need 2-3 medium-largish onions for this recipe, slice them as thinly as possible, about 1/4 of an inch in thickness. Use good quality e.v olive oil (affiliate link) to fry the onions, it makes all the difference. Also, set aside a good 30 minutes to pay full attention to the onions, they’ll take in the ballpark of 20 minutes and you’ll need to stir them quite frequently during the last 10 minutes so don’t go too far.
- Spices: We’re using all spice, cinnamom, cumin, coriander, and a little turmeric in this recipe and the combination of these spices along with the caramelized onions is insane.
What To Serve with Mujadara
Mujadara is complete meal in itself, a stand alone dish. I find pairing it with a fresh salad like Shirazi, or something as simple as fresh tomatoes, cucumber onions relish is also wonderful. Try it with a scoop of plain greek yogurt or if want a little extra Tzatziki. I have served it as part of a larger meal to feed a crowd with babaganoush, Mediterranean style chicken kebabs and other fixings.
I don’t have a recipe for Shirazi salad on my blog as yet, but its as simple as combining chopped tomatoes, cucumbers, and onions with a couple glugs of extra virgin olive oil+ a squeeze of lemon juice, sumac, a pinch of salt, pepper, + mint or parsley if I’ve got it on hand.
Lentil & Rice Pilaf with Caramelized Onions ~Mujadara
A delicious, aromatic, hearty, lentil-rice pilaf with caramelized onions and delicate spices. This pilaf is called Mujadara’ and is enjoyed all across the Levantine region.
Ingredients
- 1 cup green lentils, rinsed
- 1 cup basmati rice, rinsed
- ⅓ cup e.v olive oil
- 3-4 medium onions, sliced thinly
- 1 tsp ground coriander
- ½ tsp ground cumin
- 1 tsp ground all spice
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- ¼ tsp ground turmeric
- 1 tsp sea salt or to your taste
- 1 tsp freshly ground black pepper or to your taste
- 1½-1¾ cups water or broth
Instructions
Lentils
- Place the lentils in a small saucepan and add water to cover the lentils by at least 2 inches. Cook the lentils over medium-high heat until almost tender, about 15-18 minutes, with still some bite and shape, we'll finish cooking with the rice. Drain; set aside. Soak the rice in a bowl of cold water for 20 minutes while you caramelize the onions.
Onions
- Add 3/4s of the olive oil to a large, thick-bottomed pot, dutch oven or cocotte. Warm the olive oil over medium heat. Once warm, add the sliced onions and sprinkle a little salt, stir to coat with the oil evenly. Cook the onions for a total of 18-20 minutes, stirring often, or until the onions are a deep orange-golden with edges of dark caramelization. (Set a timer for 20 minutes if needed)
- If the onions start to brown before the 10-minute mark, you may want to drop the heat. They should develop color around 12-15 minutes. (So go slow and low).
- Stir the onions often so that they don't burn. Transfer the onions to a plate lined with a paper, leave the excess oil in the pot. We will cook the rice in this aromatic oil.
Rice and Assembly
- Drain the soaked rice thoroughly and add it to the oil remaining in the pot (if you have less than a tablespoon, add the remaining olive oil). Very gently sauté the rice just enough to coat the oil to the rice and the rice turns opaque.
- Add the lentils, half the caramelized onions to the pot. Add all the spices; cumin, coriander, turmeric, allspice, cinnamon, salt and pepper. Add 1 1/2 cups of water or broth and allow the liquid to come to a boil rolling boil, cover, lower the heat to the lowest setting, and let cook for 15 minutes.
- Take the pot off the stove. Sprinkle the remaining caramelized onions to the top of the rice. Cover with a lid and allow the rice to rest for 10 minutes (making sure the heat is turned OFF. Gently fluff and mix in the onions into the rice before serving. I like a little garnish of rose petals and chopped parsley. Enjoy!!
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Not bad – in need of salt!
This was delicious, lots of flavor and simple to prepare. We served it with diced tomatoes, cucumbers with a dash of lemon juice, fresh parsley and olive oil salad and a nice dollop of Greek yogurt. You could easily adjust the seasonings to suit your taste. Ate the leftovers the next day for lunch, so good..
Hi Jennifer, So happy you enjoyed the recipe, I love how you served it. Thank you so much for your feedback.
Excellent
Hi Di,
Thank you.
My husband and I have been looking to broaden our dinners. We tried this last night and we are making it again tonight! This was so delicious!!! Thank you for this recipe!
Hi Francesca, Thank you so much for trying the recipe. Im so happy you and your husband enjoyed it.
We are on day 3 of eating it ! We love it so much!!
Can I use canned lentils?? How dots this change the preparation ?
Hi Jen, I have not made it with canned lentils, however I think it should work. Since the canned lentils are already cooked I would recommend you rinse the lentils, mix it after the rice is cooked and heat it through.
This looks so good! What a great combination of flavors!
Thank you.
Thanks for sharing! Does it help long?
Thank you Vanessa.
It was very good. Flavors were perfect. I added a bit more cumin because I love it. My only issue was it took forever because of the onions. Any idea how to speed up that process? Thats