Mjadara
Brown lentils and rice cooked together until soft, topped with onions fried until they nearly caramelise. Humble, cheap and one of the most cooked everyday dishes in the region for exactly those reasons.
Prep 15 min · Cook 40 min · Total 55 min · Difficulty: easy
Ingredients
1 cup
brown or green lentils
3/4 cup
short or medium grain rice — rinsed
4
large onions, thinly sliced — divide roughly in half
1/2 cup
olive oil, divided
Method
Cover the lentils with water in a pot, bring to a boil and simmer uncovered for about 15 minutes, until they are tender but not falling apart. Drain and set aside, keeping the cooking water if you want to use it instead of fresh water later.
While the lentils cook, warm half the olive oil in a wide pan and fry half the onions over medium-low heat, stirring often, until deep golden brown and starting to crisp at the edges. This takes 20 minutes or more — the payoff for patience here is real, since these onions are the topping, not a background flavour.
Lift the fried onions out onto paper towel and set aside — these are for the top of the finished dish, not for cooking further.
In the same pot, warm the remaining oil and soften the second half of the onions for about 5 minutes, just until translucent, no colour needed this time. Stir in the cumin.
Add the drained lentils, rice, salt and water. Bring to a boil, then cover and simmer on low heat for about 18 minutes, until the rice is fully cooked and most of the liquid is absorbed.
Rest off the heat, covered, for 10 minutes before fluffing gently with a fork. Serve warm or at room temperature, piled with the reserved fried onions on top.
Notes
Traditionally served alongside a simple chopped salad and plain yoghurt, and often at room temperature rather than hot — it travels and reheats well, which is part of why it is such a common everyday dish.
Some households use only rice, others only bulgur, and some split it evenly — this version is the rice-forward variant.