Megadarra - Rice and Lentils

Megadarra, also called Mujudarra in various spellings, is a traditional middle eastern dish of rice, lentils and onions. It's inexpensive to prepare, filling, and healthy, and was considered "food for the poor" until everyone learned how fantastic it is, and then it crossed all class boundaries.

It's not much to look at, as many food bloggers will tell you, and there is nothing impressive about the list of ingredients. You wouldn't think such humble ingredients could turn out such a stellar side dish, and yet, they do. They team together to make a simple wonderful side dish which is good hot or cold, and ages well -- the taste is as great on Day 3 as it was on Day 1. More complicated versions will have you adding vegetables and spices, but it's best to try it the traditional way, first.

Claudia Roden, in her 2000 cookbook "in The New Book of Middle Eastern Food" said:

An aunt of mine used to present megadarra regularly to guests with the comment: ‘Excuse the food of the poor!’–to which the unanimous reply always was: ‘Keep your food of kings and give us megadarra every day!’

Trader Joe's makes it very easy for you to prepare this dish at home, and much faster than having to cook your own rice and lentils.

Here's my method:

1 yellow onion
1 package of Trader Joe's Steamed, Cooked Lentils
1 package of Trader Joe's Frozen, Cooked Jasmine Rice (or Brown Rice)
1 packet of Trader Joe's Chicken Stock concentrate
Olive Oil
Salt and Pepper

Squeeze the contents of the chicken stock packet into a cup of hot water, blend, and set aside. Slice the onion into paper thin slices. In a heavy, deep skillet, heat a sufficient quantity of olive oil (1/4 to 1/3 cup), and, with the skillet on low to medium, slowly sweat out the onion in the oil, sprinkling with salt and pepper, until the onion is very soft and fully caramlized, and there is still oil in the pan. Take your time. You don't want it crispy or too blackened. Just soft and golden. When your onion is fully caramlized, open the lentils, breaking apart the cooked brick and sprinkle them over the onions, stirring thoroughly to combine. Open and stir in a package frozen, fully cooked rice. Keeping the heat on low to medium, combine the rice, lentils and onions thoroughly, adding more salt and pepper to taste, and, slowly stir in chicken stock -- I've used the entire cup before but this isn't always necessary -- until the entire dish is moist and fully heated.

Serves 6 as a side dish, or 2-4 as a main dish.


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