I discovered Mujaddara probably about ten years ago at this little Lebanese lunch spot in Baton Rouge, called Serop’s Express. I didn’t know what the brown mixture was, but I ordered on a whim and I was instantly in love. The soft grain-like mixture was earthy, flavorful, and had an intoxicating blend of seasoning. I immediately googled the recipe, determined to make it myself.
(I added chopped cilantro for garnish and to add color to the photo. Cilantro is not needed for the recipe.)
What is Mujaddara?
Mujaddara is a simple, filling, and flavorful Arabic dish made with rice, lentils, and caramelized onions. There are many ways to make it, with each region and family having their own spin, but the common thread among them all is rice, lentils, and caramelized onions. However it’s made, though, it’s usually extremely delicious, filling, and very inexpensive. So, in other words, it’s definitely a budget byte!
My Interpretation
Despite trying several times over the past ten years, I’ve never been able to replicate Serop’s magic recipe. I’ve even had friends question members of the restaurant’s family about what’s in the dish, only to get the answer “rice and lentils”. *sigh* I’ve had mujaddara at other Lebanese restaurants, but none of them compare to what Serop’s serves up. I don’t know what kind of magic they put in there, but it’s way more delicious and intoxicating than just rice and lentils.
The version I finally settled on is as close to Serop’s as I can get. It has plenty of caramelized onions to give it a deep, rich flavor, vegetable broth to make the flavor a little more complex, and a healthy dose of aromatic spices to keep things interesting. This recipe makes a big batch of about 6 cups, but this recipe will freeze very well, so any leftovers can be saved for later.
What to Serve with Mujaddara
I’ve been eating mine plain in a bowl, but it goes great with sautéed greens, roasted vegetables, or even topped with a fried egg. It’s kind of one of those all-purpose dishes that can be eaten at almost every meal. No wonder it’s been around so long!
Try the Authentic Version
As you can see, I’ve played around with the basic mujaddara concept quite a bit here, so you may want to try an authentic recipe first. Plus, you’ll probably get to learn a lot about this dish’s rich culture and history while you’re at it. Here are some great authentic mujaddara recipes to try:
- Lebanese Mujadara from Feel Good Foodie
- Mujadara from The Mediterranean Dish
- Mujadara from Cardamom and Tea
Mujaddara
Servings 6 (1 cup each)Ingredients
- 2 Tbsp olive oil ($0.32)
- 4 yellow onions ($1.59)
- 1 tsp cumin ($0.10)
- 1 tsp allspice ($0.10)
- 1/4 tsp ground cloves ($0.03)
- 2.5 cups vegetable broth ($0.30)
- 1 cup long grain white rice (or jasmine) ($0.33)
- 1 cup brown lentils ($0.68)
Instructions
- Thinly slice the onions and add them to a large pot with the olive oil. Cook over low heat, stirring frequently for one hour, or until they are deeply golden brown, sticky, and caramelized. Remove half of the onions and set them aside to top the pilaf after cooking
- Add the cumin, allspice, and cloves to the pot with the remaining onions. Sauté for about one minute to lightly toast the spices. Add the vegetable broth and stir the pot well to dissolve any browned bits stuck to the bottom of the pot.
- Add the rice and lentils to the pot. Cover the pot with a lid and turn the heat up to high. Allow the contents to come up to a boil. As soon as it reaches a full boil, turn the heat down to low and let it simmer for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, turn the heat off and let it rest for 10 minutes without removing the lid. Finally, remove the lid, fluff with a spoon or fork, then top with the reserved caramelized onions. Serve warm.
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Notes
Nutrition
Have you tried this recipe?Mention @budgetbytes or tag #budgetbytes on Instagram!How to Make Mujaddara – Step by Step Photos
This recipe starts with caramelized onions, which lend a lot of flavor to the final pilaf. They take a long time to make, but are well worth it. Begin by thinly slicing four yellow onions and adding them to a large pot with 2 Tbsp olive oil. Cook the onions over low heat, stirring frequently for one hour. You can stir less frequently at first, but will need to keep a closer eye towards the end. I did chores around the house during the first part, remembering to walk back into the kitchen every few minutes to stir.
After an hour or so, they should be deep golden brown, sticky, and caramelized. If you don’t like the stringy texture of caramelized onions, you can dice them instead. They will probably cook a little faster when diced and will blend into the pilaf a little better.
Remove half of the onions and set them aside to top the pilaf later. Add 1 tsp cumin, 1 tsp allspice, and 1/4 tsp ground cloves to the pot. Sauté the spices with the remaining onions for about a minute. This toasts the spices slightly, which enhances their flavor.
Add 2.5 cups of vegetable broth to the pot and stir to dissolve any browned bits off the bottom. All that browned onion sugar will help give a lot of flavor to the Mujaddara.
Add one cup of long-grain white rice and one cup of brown lentils to the pot. I used jasmine rice because it’s my favorite, but you can use plain white rice if desired. You’ll want to use brown lentils and not French or “green” lentils because those take twice as long to cook as brown lentils. If unsure, check the packaging to see the recommended cooking time. It should be 20-30 minutes.
Add the rice and lentils to the pot, place a lid on top, then turn the heat up to high. Let the pot come to a full boil. Once it reaches a boil, turn it down to low heat and let it simmer for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, turn the heat off and let it rest with the lid in place for 10 more minutes. After the ten-minute rest, you’ll have this (see photo above).
Fluff it up with a spoon or fork (looks more appetizing now, for sure). The rice and lentils should have absorbed all the broth and be soft and tender all the way through.
Top the Mujaddara with the reserved caramelized onions and serve! YUM.
I don’t know why it is in Canada but I’ve looked in 4 different grocery stores for brown lentils only to find they’re stocked with green and red mostly, but no brown. I guess it’s not that common here.
It’s not just Canada. I can’t find brown lentils here in Silver Spring, MD. But I looked them up and they’re supposed to be the basic kind of lentils, but nobody stocks them!
If you want the caramelization process to go a little faster, stir 1 Tbsp. of sugar into the onions.
I wonder if the missing element may be saffron? I’ve cooked this dish twice now, once with and once without saffron, and the addition of saffron seemed to be the missing ingredient that made the flavor “pop.”
Beware, though — saffron is prohibitively expensive!
Oh that sounds fantastic, though!
I don’t know about saffron, but I would also like to know how to speed up the caramelization process. It took MUCH longer than an hour following these instructions.
How long would something like this keep (if properly stored) in the fridge?
About a week. It also freezes well. :)
Made this today – I was worried that it might be dry, like some other people have said, because it looked dry on top while it was cooking inside the pot, but when I took off the lid, it was perfect. Great way to clean out some staples without needing to go to the store.
I actually did use red lentils and while they didn’t hold their shape at all, it still tasted great. Nice crumbly texture.
I served it with a side of greek yogurt mixed with lemon and spices, and also slathered it in sriracha because I couldn’t resist.
This is my favorite meal from one I was a kid. I personally will only ever eat it with a tangy plain yogurt or with a simple cucumber and tomato salad with a lemon and salt dressing.
I only have Green Lentils available to me. I wonder, would it work if I boiled them separately for maybe 15 minutes, drain them, and then add them with the dry rice and broth? Or should I just cook them separately all the way through? I’m worried about them being kind of bland if I do that.
I would cook them separately all the way through. Cook the rice with the onions and spices, and for broth only use the amount of water you would normally use to cook that amount f rice.
That seemed to work fine, at least both the rice and lentils cooked evenly. I threw in a dash of cumin and allspice in with the lentils to keep them from being too bland, but I don’t think it made a huge difference in the end there.
I might need to revisit this one though since I failed to properly caramelize the onions and I think a lot of flavor was lost as a result. I’m too impatient!
I could only find green lentils as well, I ended up cooking them together with brown rice instead so they’d have a similar cooking time and it came out great. Probably a little longer than the lentils would normally have needed to cook but they held up fine.
You could also soak the lentils in water the day before. I always do that, and they cook through at about the same time as white rice that way.
I’ve always made this dish with green lentils. You can either start the lentils first then add white rice and additional broth halfway through the cooking time, or use brown rice and cook them both together.
This dish is worth the time! I made brown rice in my rice cooker with the spices and threw in a can of chickpeas instead of lentils because that is what I had on hand when the rice was done, and caramelized the onions on the stove. I combined all the components and it turned out delicious! The spice combo and the onions are a match made in heaven!
I made this today, only had two onions so I skipped the topping (sad) and made it with green lentils and brown rice. I doubled the liquid (used water), increased the cooking time. When it was done I salted it at the table. It was so good. Definitely making again. Thanks for the recipe.
I’ve made this twice in the past week! It’s delicious, keeps well, and is really forgivable–I’ve varied the number of onions and the type of spices (as someone suggested, I tried it with Ras al Hanout–delicious!). An awesome accompaniment is a seasoned lemon yogurt dip.I the juice/zest of 1 lemon with a tub of plain yogurt, then added mujaddara seasoning to taste.
Other commenters were right about the liquid, I didn’t believe at first but ended up adding almost an additional cup and a half. Rice came out a bit sticky but maybe because of the extra water? Otherwise it was delicious and plenty of food!
Definitely will make this again!
this is an interesting recipe! i might try this week. :)
Yum! This worked perfectly for me as written (although my onions were cut too large, so caramelizing took longer)–no broth adjustments needed. This is the recipe I’ve been waiting for to finally make me like lentils!
I tried this tonight and it was fabulous! My husband even liked it and he’s not into this kind of stuff, haha! I ended up using a little extra cooking liquid, and used canned lentils instead since that’s what I had on hand. I just added the lentils in at the last 10 minutes to warm up. Can’t wait to eat the leftovers tomorrow (likely with some curry roasted carrots and a fried egg– yum!)
Wonderful stuff! Made it last week but had to use more liquid than recipe called for. I started to brown the onions in my Ninja slow cooker (the insert is metal) and cooked them on low until carmelized. Served this with za’atar spiced oven roasted chicken thighs and a simple tomato-cucumber-onion salad. Can’t wait to serve this to guests.
Similarly to others, I had to add one more cup of broth and simmer 15 minutes longer (on my smallest burner at the lowest setting). Well, that’s the beauty of cooking – it’s never 100% predictable.