Canada's food guide
Mujadarrah (lentils, onions and rice)
This delicious, budget-friendly Middle Eastern dish is a great way to use leftover cooked lentils and reduce food waste. Serve for dinner with a side salad or coleslaw.
Prep time
5 min
Cook time
20 min
Servings
6
Ingredients
- 30 mL (2 tbsp) olive oil
- 3 onions, sliced thinly
- 5 mL (1 tsp) ground cumin
- 560 mL (2 ¼ cups) brown or wild rice, cooked
- 1 can (540 mL/19 oz) brown or green lentils, drained and rinsed
Directions
- In a pan, heat oil over medium-high heat. Add onions and cook until they turn dark caramel brown, stirring often. This will take about 15 minutes. Remove half of the onions to a bowl (these are for garnish later). Sprinkle in ground cumin and cook about 1 minute more.
- Add cooked rice to onions and stir often for 3 minutes. Stir in lentils and cook for another 2 minutes.
- Serve rice and lentils with reserved caramelized onions on top.
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Tips
- You will know onions are caramelized when they have a deep chestnut colour and are slightly crispy. Add a little water to onions if they are sticking to the bottom of the pan.
- Using dry rice and lentils? Use 190 mL (¾ cup) dry rice and 250 mL (1 cup) dry lentils, and cook according to package directions before adding at step 2.
- Time-saver: double this recipe and freeze extra servings for another day.
