Mejadra

Jerusalem: A Cookbook, Part III

 

 

Mejadra recipe from Jerusalem: A Cookbook

This is the third installment from a whirlwind weekend of cooking with my sister. We chose three recipes form Yotam Ottolenghi's latest installment Jerusalem: A Cookbook. My sister and I are definitely food nerds, so we were excited to cook with authentic Mediterranean ingredients.

My collection of goods from the Mediterranean Market

It was a lot fun exploring the flavors and traditions of Jerusalem. I learned a lot of new ways to use spices, and of course, enjoyed sampling all the fabulous flavors of the region. Each dish was so unique and flavorful, it's a safe bet that anything from this book will surprise your taste buds and delight your guests. 

If you love lentils and curry spices, you'll love Mejadra.  Apparently,  the two authors of this book both agreed on this recipe as their favorite.

Mejadra

(Recipe from Jerusalem: A Cookbook by Yotam Ottolenghi and Sami Tamimi, copyright © 2012)

 

Some notes about this recipe: 

Mejadra calls for a few spices that you might not have stored in your cabinet. To avoid spending a lot, try finding a grocery store that offers spices in bulk, like Sprouts, so you can buy just the amount that you need. Then, after you discover how amazing this dish is, you can decide whether or not to invest in an entire package of cumin and coriander seeds.

Also, from start to finish, this recipe takes around an hour to prepare, but offers a little downtime so you can prepare other dishes simultaneously, or maybe just get some laundry done.

Ingredients:

• 1-1/4 cups green or brown lentils

• 4 medium onions

• 3 Tbsp all-purpose flour
• About 1 cup sunflower oil

• 2 tsp cumin seeds

• 1 1/2 Tbsp.  coriander seeds

• 1 cup  basmati rice

• 2 Tbsp.  olive oil

• 1/2 tsp.  ground turmeric

• 1 1/2 tsp. ground allspice

• 1 1/2 tsp.  ground cinnamon

• 1 tsp.  sugar

• 1 1/2 cups water

• Salt and freshly ground black pepper

 Instructions:

step 1. 
   Place lentils in a small saucepan, cover with plenty of water, bring to a boil, and cook for 12 to 15 minutes, until lentils have softened but still have a little bite. Drain and set aside.


step 2.  
   Peel onions and slice thinly. Place on a large flat plate, sprinkle with the flour and 1 teaspoon salt, and mix well with your hands. Heat sunflower oil in a medium heavy-bottomed saucepan placed over high heat. Make sure oil is hot by throwing in a small piece of onion; it should sizzle vigorously. Reduce heat to medium-high and carefully add one-third of sliced onion. Fry for 5 to 7 minutes, stirring occasionally with a slotted spoon, until onion takes on a nice golden brown color and turns crispy. Use spoon to transfer onion to a colander lined with paper towels and sprinkle with a little more salt. Do same with other two batches of onion; add a little extra oil if needed.


step 3.
   Wipe saucepan in which you fried onion clean and put in cumin and coriander seeds. Place over medium heat and toast seeds for a minute or two. Add rice, olive oil, turmeric, allspice, cinnamon, sugar, 1/2 tsp. salt and plenty of black pepper. Stir to coat rice with oil and then add cooked lentils and water. Bring to a boil, cover with a lid, and simmer over very low heat for 15 minutes.

Remove from heat, lift off lid and quickly cover pan with a clean tea towel. Seal tightly with lid and set aside for 10 minutes.


step 4.
   Finally, add half fried onion to rice and lentils and stir gently with a fork. Pile mixture in a shallow serving bowl and top with remaining onion.


serving suggestions: 
top with parsley and a dollop of yogurt like Lanbeh, a Middle Eastern style strained yogurt available at specialty stores. 

as always, enjoy!