Mujaddara: Lentils, Rice and a Mountain of Onions Fried Until They Are Nearly Burnt

Mujaddara appears in a Baghdad cookbook of 1226, which makes it among the oldest dishes still made the same way, and it was already old then. The name means "pockmarked", for the way the lentils show through the rice. It is peasant food that the region's cooks have never felt any need to improve, and it survives because it is complete: protein from the lentils, starch from the rice, fat and sweetness from the onions, and a sourness added at the table with yoghurt or salad. It is also, if the onions are done properly, one of the best things that can be made for a few dollars.

Ingredients

• 250 g brown or green lentils
• 200 g long-grain or basmati rice, rinsed
• 4 large onions, about 800 g, halved and sliced thin
• 120 ml olive oil, or half olive and half neutral oil
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• Half a teaspoon ground allspice
• Salt and black pepper
• To serve: yoghurt or a cucumber and tomato salad with lemon, and more of the crisp onions

Method

1. Put the lentils in a pot with a litre of water, bring to the boil and simmer until just tender but still whole, 20 to 25 minutes. Drain, keeping the cooking water.
2. While they cook, do the onions. Heat the oil in a wide, heavy pan over medium-high heat and add all the onions with a good pinch of salt. They will fill the pan; they will shrink. Cook, stirring every few minutes, for 25 to 35 minutes. They go soft, then gold, then deep brown, then, at the edges, almost black. That last stage is the one you want; stop at gold and the dish is bland. When about a third of them are dark and crisp, lift out that third with a slotted spoon onto kitchen paper for the top. Leave the rest, and the oil, in the pan.
3. Add the cumin, allspice and a good grind of pepper to the pan and stir for thirty seconds. Add the rice and stir to coat in the onion oil.
4. Add the drained lentils and 450 ml of the lentil water (top up with water if short), and a teaspoon of salt. Bring to the boil, cover tightly, reduce to the lowest heat, and cook 15 minutes without lifting the lid.
5. Take off the heat and leave, still covered, for ten minutes. Fluff with a fork, taste for salt, and turn onto a platter. Pile the crisp onions on top.

Notes

The onions cannot be hurried and cannot be done in a small pan; they need surface area to brown rather than stew. If they catch too fast, lower the heat rather than adding water. Some cooks use bulgur instead of rice, which is the Lebanese mountain version and arguably older. Red lentils do not work; they collapse. Serve warm or at room temperature with thick yoghurt, or with the chopped salad that the Levant puts beside everything. It is better the next day, and it belongs with the vegetarian dishes of the region that were never trying to be vegetarian, alongside ful and the lentil soup that shares its pot.