LAFAYETTE, CALIFORNIA – We get it. Bay Area people are obsessed with every fiber-rich legume they can get their hands on. Folks around here are enthusiastic about rice and beans. But they especially love lentils.
The issue is that many lentil dishes are bland and boring. Not mujadara. This Mediterranean dish, with origins in the Levant, pairs lentils with rice and sauteed onions. It’s so good that even our kids loved it, and yours (probably) will too.
We tested this recipe from Piping Pot Curry: https://pipingpotcurry.com/instant-pot-lentils-rice-mujadara/
The first step–as is often the case with lentils–is to soak the lentils for about an hour. After that, they’re softened up and ready to use.
This is an Instant Pot meal, which means after the soaking, you’re basically just using one pot. You sauté some onions in the Instant Pot, and then in go the lentils, spices like coriander and cumin, and salt. A few minutes of cooking softens up the lentils, and then you add basmati rice.
We used Lundberg rice, since it’s grown in California!
The rice, lentils, onions and spices cook for about 12 minutes in the Instant Pot. If you’re not familiar with this gadget, it’s basically an automatic pressure cooker. So 12 minutes under pressure is the same as over an hour of traditional boiling.
That means when the dish comes out, the rice is extremely tender and flavorful, and the rice and lentils meld together with the spices into a single, still totally vegan entity.
It’s delicious! Hearty, filling and still extremely healthy. Because the lentils and rice meld together so nicely, our kids didn’t even realize they were eating legumes.
Mujadara goes perfectly with labne or a bit of Greek yogurt if you don’t care about keeping things fully vegan.
It’s also a great filling for a pita!
Overall, Piping Pot Curry’s recipe is a winner. You can grab a copy on their site and print it if you want to try making this dish at home.
You could make this as a side, or pair it with some protein to make a full dinner out of it. We combined it with some Middle Eastern spiced meatballs which was perfect.
What do you think of our Bay Area Telegraph recipe tests? Let us know in the comments or email tom@bayareatelegraph.com
