Mujadarra (Middle Eastern style rice and lentils)

Every culture has its comfort food. That 'go to' recipe for when you're feeling down, homesick, or just in need of something delicious to feed the soul. Middle Eastern cuisine is no different, and in response to that deep seated need, I offer up mujadarra (also by way of transliteration known as moujadara, mejadra, mudardara, megadarra and numerous other spellings)

Found all over the Middle East, mujadarra is the epitome of comfort food, assuming you like rice (or burghal), lentils and fried onions - and who doesn't love fried onions? There are some slight national variations with regards to the ingredients, some recipes call for green lentils, others brown, in Lebanon burghal wheat is often substituted for the rice, and in Egypt they may add some pasta and tomatoes to the mix, but all variations involve topping the delicious mixture with onions fried until caramelised.

My recipe below is a bit of a cheats version, my local supermarket had no dried brown or green lentils, and while red lentils are delicious cooked with rice, for mujadarra you need something that's going to hold together. They did however have canned puy lentils, so a puy lentil mujadara it was to be.

The rice and lentils can be cooked together pilaf style or separately. I usually go for the latter method as I think it gives a better taste and texture. As an aside, if I was using dried lentils then I'd add the spices to the lentil mixture when they were almost cooked.

Ingredients
400g long grain white rice
400g brown or green lentils
Water for cooking
2 tsp ground cumin
2 tsp cumin seeds
2 tsp smoked paprika
Salt to taste
1 large onion
Olive oil
1. Finely slice the onion and fry until golden brown and caramelised. I added a little pomegranate molasses to speed up the caramelisation process and add some extra sweetness
2. While the onion is frying, cook the rice according to your preferred method (boiling or absorption) and leave to one side. I add the cumin seeds to the rice whilst its cooking (and also 2 sliced cloves of garlic, not neccesarily traditional but tasty)
3. Cook the lentils until al dente and drain (or drain the can, reserving a little of the water to heat the lentils up in)
4. In a large bowl mix the rice and lentils together, the final proportions are up to indiviidual preference. I go for a 50:50 mix of rice to lentils
5. Stir in spices and season to taste
6. Eat! Delicious with a spoonful of yoghurt or sour cream and served with pickled cucumbers and tomatoes.