Middle Eastern Mujadara (Brown Rice and Lentils with Browned Onions)

This mujadara recipe is a classic Middle Eastern dish of cumin-scented brown rice and lentils with caramelized onions and garlicky yogurt.

The first time I met Ruba was at an art show organized by Rene’s grad school classmates. She appeared to feel pretty out of place, which was perfect for me because I always feel out of place at art shows because despite having dated an artist for almost seven years, I still feel awkward AF at arty gatherings.

I walked over to say hi and we quickly hit it off. It turned out Ruba was Palestinian and had recently arrived from Tel Aviv to attend grad school. We bonded over the shared experience of culture shock when moving to America and of surviving your first bone-chilling winter in Syracuse.

A few weeks later, I was standing alongside Ruba at her kitchen counter, mincing three giant bunches of parsley for tabbouleh (this took an hour and my fingers were starting to blister). We were preparing a middle eastern dinner under her guidance, using her mom’s recipes, for some mutual friends from Rene’s school.

As the kitchen filled with warm, spicy aromas of cumin, toasted almonds, and garlic, we traded stories of our childhoods and life experiences. It was the first time I heard about the conflict in Israel from an Arabic person (my family is half-Jewish and so are many of my friends’) and realized just how important it is to hear all sides of any story.

The food turned out spectacular and we feasted like royalty. There were a few dishes on the table that I’d never tried before, one of which was this mujadara recipe. Mujadara is a classic Middle Eastern dish popular in Israel, Syria, Lebanon, and others.

Essentially, it’s a pot of cumin-scented brown rice and lentils, cooked together, topped with browned onions, and served with garlicky yogurt. It is incredibly easy to make and highly satisfying, since it contains all the protein and complex carbs you need in a meal.

The ingredients of mujadara are humble and it’s hard to believe something as simple as rice, lentils, and onions could result in something so mind-blowingly delicious. The nutty aroma of toasted rice mixed with the earthiness of lentils and sweet-savory onions, and brightened up with zingy, spicy yogurt… it is a perfect food.

All mujadara is essentially made the same way but there are slight variations based on who’s cooking. Some recipes call for cooking the onions in the pot with the rice and lentils, while others (like mine below) call for adding the onions on top. Some people are adamant about parcooking the lentils before adding them to the rice, while I find they’re perfectly fine cooked at the same time.

Lastly, some recipes suggest toasting the rice in oil before adding the cooking liquid (like mine), while others skip it. I think this step is crucial: toasting the rice brings out its nuttiness and adds another layer of flavor to the dish; it also helps the grains stay fluffy, not mushy, while cooking. This mujadara recipe is perfect for batch-cooking on weekends and heating up for lunch and dinner throughout the week.

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