Mujaddara Sweet Potato, Fried Onions and Spice Yoghurt
Mujadara is served across the Middle East in various forms and goes by differing names, depending on where you are. It has many spelling variations: mujadarra, mujadarah, majadra, mejadra, moujadara, mudardara, and megadarra. It is a humble, hearty dish packed with protein and works perfectly as a side or vegetarian main dish.
The first recorded recipe for the mujaddara appears in Kitab al-Tabikh, which simply means “cookbook”. It was written in 1226 by Mohammed bin Hassan al-Baghdadi in Iraq. The original recipe, which included rice, lentils, and meat, was served this way during celebrations. This is a popular rice and lentils Middle Eastern dish. It can include diced cooked chicken or lamb if you wish. It is very tasty and relatively easy to prepare.
Ingredients
A tin of cooked lentils or 1 cup brown lentils
200gm or one cup of white long-grain rice
½ cup olive oil
2 diced sweet potatoes
3 sliced and halved brown onions
1 tsp powdered cinnamon
1 tsp ground cumin
½ tsp hot paprika
½ bunch of flat leaf parsley
60g of softened butter
2 lemons
200gms Greek yoghurt
½ bunch chopped mint
Preparation
Either cook lentils for 20 minutes and drain and cool or open a tin.
Rinse rice and put it in add 1 ½ cup of water and bring to boil and cook for 15 minutes or use a rice cooker.
Using two large fry pans put half of oil in each and over a medium heat cook onions in one and cubed sweet potatoes in the other.
Cook sweet potatoes for ten minutes stirring every minute. Add half the spices and continue to cook for another ten minutes. Add some more oil if necessary. Set aside and cool.
Continue to cook onions for 15 minutes or until brown and soft. Add some more oil if necessary. Continue to cook until some of the onions are crisp.
Mix rice, lentils, sweet potatoes, half the onions, the chopped parsley and half of the soft butter in a large bowl and marinade for 1 hour.
Pre heat oven. Put the marinade mix into a baking dish. Add the juice of lemons, the onions on top and the balance of spices and half chopped mint. Heat for 10 minutes or little longer to heat. Serve with dobs of the yoghurt, the remainder of the mint and the crisp onions on the top.
Cooking time about 1 hour excluding marinade time
Cost: $10-12 or $1-1.50 per serve (2020)
Middle Eastern Green Beans and Tomatoes
Serve as side dish to the Mujaddara
Ingredients
1 large chopped onion
1 clove of crushed garlic
½ cup olive oil
1 tbs tomato paste
Tin of crushed tomatoes
1 tsp fresh chopped mint
1/3 kilo beans string
Cut in large pieces
1 tsp of fresh chopped dill
1 tsp of lemon
water
Preparation
Heat oil in saucepan and sauté the onions until soft, add garlic and sauté for 2 minutes, Stir the tomato paste and tomatoes and simmer until the sauce is smooth. Add beans, dill, salt and pepper, lemon juice and water. Cover and cook until beans are tender around 15 minutes.
Time about 20 minutes
Cost $8 or $1 per serve (2020)
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