Mujaddara

Recently I have had loads of fun helping M, a friend of mine reposition furniture in her home to make it more appealing for potential short term tourist rentals. The results have been pleasing and only required the addition of a few select decorative pieces to finish it off. After a successful trawl through Mall of the Emirates the items were purchased and we sat down for a healthy, satisfying and delicious lunch of lentils and rice otherwise known as mujaddara with salad.



Mujaddara is a Middle Eastern staple. It is found in one form or another throughout the Levant, Iran and Arab Gulf countries. In India the dish is known as Kitchari. The Middle East offers a tempting selection of good vegetarian dishes some of which have become staples for us and as M and I enjoyed our meal I decided it was time to incorporate mujaddara into my newly emerging vegetarian cooking repertoire.

While the Indian version commonly uses red lentils, the Middle Eastern one found in Dubai uses brown lentils, a seemingly simple enough ingredient to find one would think but on perusal of the legume section at the supermarket I was surprised to find that the humble brown lentil comes in many forms. With further research I discovered the kind I have at home which looks like the French puy is actually a whole red lentil with the skin on. These cook much faster than your regular brown or green lentils and turn to mush very quickly, so it is important to know which type you are dealing with.

The ingredients are basically just oil, onions, cummin and cinnamon, lentils, rice and water and they are all cooked together. My first attempt has worked quite well although could do with a little more spicing. Mujaddara is usually accompanied with labnah salad and pita bread.