Moujaddara is a popular Arabic dish made of pureed lentils and spices. In this version, we let the slow cooker do the heavy lifting, allowing the lentils to soften and the flavors to meld together.
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
1 ½ cups brown lentils
½ cup short grain brown rice
4 cloves garlic
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1 teaspoon allspice
½ teaspoon cinnamon
¼ teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon salt
5 ½ cups water
Optional garnishes for serving: fresh parsley, plain yogurt or labneh
An Oldways recipe, courtesy of Kelly Toups
Zoroasteros says: Well, Mjaddara is sticky this is how it is done and have been done for ages. The non-sticky one is another version which some people call Mdardara. The term Mdardara somehow imply that it is not sticky, while the term Mjaddara refers to chickenpox! It’s because when you cook it sticky it looks like a skin of a person who has chickenpox (yucky, I know!)
As for the chicken broth, I’m not saying it wouldn’t taste good. I mean something tasting good is relative. But to me, as Lebanese middle eastern person, that wouldn’t be Mjaddara anymore! For us Mjaddara is the first thing that comes up to your mind when you think of vegan food. Even the garlic and ginger are very extreme to me. In general, the main ingredients are brown lentils, short rice (or bulgur), and FRIED onions, with salt of course. Some people add cumin and some spices as well.
That being said, thank you very much for this recipe! I wanna make it in a crockpot this time and I wanted to know how much water to add because when I do it on the stove I just put a random amount then add more if needed.
Katherine-Oldways says: Hi there! Thank you for your comments. To answer your question, we added 5 1/2 cups of water. Hope you enjoy!
kai says: This was good, but could be improved. Next time, rather than 5 1/2 cups of water I will use 32oz (4 c.) chicken or vegetable broth + 1.5 c water to give it another flavor dimension that it really lacked. I’ve had moujadarra as a favorite many times before at restaurants, and it was not sticky at all. This recipe, however, was extremely sticky. I would not use short grain rice, but instead long grain to reduce the stickiness and add bulgar as is traditionally served with it. I think best would be to cook the bulgar on the side and add it in when plating. The spices are perfect, however! Looking forward to trying this again.
(2)
Leave a comment