Mdardara is the first thing that comes to mind when I’m feeling homesick. Although it will never exactly taste like home (since I don’t own a pressure cooker/blending tool), it never fails to make me feel right at home.
While the Lebanese way is to cook the lentils with the rice, it never really seemed to work with the lentils/rice found here (since I don’t have a pressure cooker). You’ll be preparing the rice and lentils apart in this recipe.
This one’s not only budget-friendly, but loaded with Iron!
Let me know if you try it, tweak it, hate it or love it in the comments below!
🍁 Ingredients (4 Servings) 🍁
- 1/2 cup long brown rice
- 1 cup green lentils
- 1 medium/large onion
- 1 tbsp of olive oil
- 1/2 tsp of each: cinnamon, grounded all spice
- A pinch of garlic powder
- 1/4 to 1/2 tsps of cumin (spice) – this really is according to taste and how you feel about cumin.
🌱 Preparation 🌱
***for the lentils, best is to cook them according to the instructions on the packet as each sub type is cooked differently. This recipe should work if you use these. If you don’t, then proceed with the instructions given on the packet for step 4.
- Cook the rice – follow instructions on the packet, or follow my instructions here! Make sure you add some cinnamon to your rice for extra flavour.
- Dice and fry the onion on low heat in a big pot; add garlic powder, cinnamon, and grounded allspice as you do so.
- Once onions soften and start to golden, add lentils and mix for 1 minute.
- Add two cups of water. Once it starts boiling, cover and simmer on low heat for 25-30 min.
When checking on your lentils, taste one. If it seems like they won’t need the whole time to cook, uncover the pot, increase heat, and let the water evaporate. This is a very tricky step; if they need more cooking time and water seems scarce, add water.
*** check on the lentils every 10 min. move them around to make sure they don’t stick.
👩🍳 Serving 👩🍳
- Add the rice to the cooked lentils/onion pot and mix them.
- Add cumin and salt, mix well.
This dish tastes great if you drizzle the plate with some extra olive oil!
I like to enjoy it with a vinegar-based salad and plenty of tomatoes!
🤓 Student Scheduling 🤓
This recipe takes a lot. Of. Time.
While it’s bad news for a busy schedule, it’s great when you use it as a study timer! (Time to cook lentils = non stop reading, Rice = Write/Memorize…)
It’s also great for meal prepping.
🧘🏻♀️ Fitness and the P-word🧘🏻♀️
You can play around with the Rice/Lentil ratio!
💸 Going Green all the way to the Wallet? 💸
I actually stick to such dishes when I’m low on money!
🐄🐔No animal was hurt preparing this dish, وكل ثورة وانتو بخير
The Vegan Whisper 