What you see above is Mjadrah, a Lebanese lentil and rice dish. This dish is, on its own, entirely vegan, though some people spoon yogurt over the top. We replaced yogurt with soygurt.
Jihan had this at home growing up and, after I came across an online recipe for it recently, we decided that we needed to make it.
We had 2 cups of sprouted lentils sitting in the fridge, just enough to make this wonderful dish. She didn't remember all the ingredients off-hand, so I did a little research, reading a number of versions to her until something rang a bell. Using sprouted lentils is our little innovation, as is the soygurt topping.
Ingredients:
- 2 cups small green (Eston) lentils, sprouted
- 1 cup brown basmati rice
- 2 medium onions, coarsely chopped
- 1 tbsp sea salt
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 1 tsp ground allspice
- 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
- Cook rice ahead of time.
- Pour olive oil into a deep pan and, on medium heat, fry onion until golden (take 1/2 out and leave the rest until it is a rich brown).
- Put sprouted lentils in a medium pot and add just enough water to cover. Bring to boil and simmer for about 5 minutes, then add rice, salt, spices and half of the onion. Mix well and simmer for 2 or 3 more minutes.
- Serve with caramelized onion and soygurt.
Serves 4
