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Mdardara - Hearty green lentils & rice with caramelised onions
Rated 5.0 stars by 1 users
Category
Jad Youssef
Cuisine
Lebanese
Servings
4
Mdardara was one of those dishes that meant comfort when I was growing up. I still remember coming home from school in Beirut and before you even opened the door, you could smell the onions frying from the stairwell. The neighbours would always ask ‘who’s making mdardara today?’ It wasn’t just our home; in Békaa villages, in Akkar, in the South, this dish filled kitchens on simple days. My mother would cook it with green lentils and just a little rice, always to be served with salatet banadoura, a fresh tomato and cucumber salad, plenty of lemon and warm flatbread. Even now, that first bite brings back those cosy afternoons in our old house.
Recipe taken from Jad Youssef's Lebnani , and adapted for the Wonderbag
Thank you to Jad and his team at Lebnani restaurant.
Author:Jad Youssef
Ingredients
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300g cooked green lentils
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600ml Water
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150ml olive oil
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1kg (about 5–6) large brown onions, thinly sliced
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1½ tsp ground cumin
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1½ tsp fine sea salt, or to taste
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½ tsp freshly ground black pepper
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100g long grain rice, washed and drained
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Lemon wedges
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Lebanese salad
To Serve
Directions
In a large pan, heat the olive oil. Add the sliced onions and fry slowly over medium heat, stirring often, until deep golden brown and caramelised (about 25–30 minutes). Take your time – this step creates all the flavour. Remove about half the onions from the pan and set aside on a clean cloth or paper towels.
Add your cooked lentils, cumin, salt, and black pepper and stir well into the onions.
Add 600ml of the water and bring to a boil, then add the washed rice. Stir once, bring to the boil and then add your pot lid and transfer to your Wonderbag. Allow to slow-cook in your Wonderbag for approx 45 minutes or until the rice is tender and the water has been absorbed. Mdardara should be soft and comforting.
Prepare your salad, then fluff your rice gently with a fork. Spoon the mdardara onto a large platter. Serve warm or at room temperature, alongside a traditional salad such as a warm Lebanese khobez salad, and extra lemon wedges if desired. In our house, this was always a simple, perfect, family lunch.
Recipe Video
https://www.instagram.com/p/DVf-LtHjAps/?hl=enRecipe Note
Notes
· Green lentils have a beautiful earthy flavour and hold their shape better than brown lentils. Using more lentils than rice is how mdardara is made correctly, homestyle.
· The caramelised onions must be very dark golden – take your time.
