Lentils Shine in a Dish Called Mujadara

I like lentils. Liking lentils in the first place, may - or may not - preclude some from liking this dish. 

I had heard of Mujadara. I just never researched it to find out what, exactly, it was. I am not at all sure how or why I missed out on this meal, but I surely do wish I'd found out sooner, because it is one amazingly flavored dish. 

Mujadara

Mujadara is a Lebanese / Middle Eastern concoction of lentils and rice. Rice can be substituted with bulghur. Lentils and rice are pretty bland fare, on their own. They need a lot of help in the flavor department. I believe what interested me the most when reading the recipes online - particularly the ones written by Lebanese or other Middle Eastern bloggers - is the near lack of any flavorings beyond a little cumin - and a whole boatload of onions. These onions are sauteed until very, very dark; far darker than the norm. These deeply caramelized, nigh on to burnt (but not quite) onions are what provide the absolutely heavenly flavor to the otherwise not too exciting lentils and rice. 

Every cook has their own way of making a thing. Every cook has their own reasoning as to why it should be that way. I have absolutely no argument on method, and depending on the outcome, I may change a method to suit my own lifestyle. And at my age, I look for the simplest way, the fewest steps, the least cleanup possible. I have ranted on that subject here before, so I won't go into it again. But, when it requires three or four different pots or skillets to make one meal, I look immediately  to how that can be simplified. 

Maureen's Cookbook

Maureen Abood, a Lebanese-American lady I have been following for years on her blog, Facebook and with her cookbook called "Rose Water and Orange Blossoms," has recipes amazingly easy to understand. When dealing with an unknown culture, it helps to have someone both knowledgeable in the foods themselves, but also articulate enough to translate that into descriptions that clarify to a person not of that culture. I have some go-to Indian blogs that have fantastic recipes. Some though, assume that one knows what one is doing and so the recipes require some trial and error. And errors happen way too easily, when one "assumes!"

Ultimately, Maureen's recipe is the one that gave me the clearest idea of the whys and the wherefores of making Mujadara, though I had read about 8 recipes online and had already scribbled down two versions of what I thought I would do. 

What is Mujadara?

As mentioned above, Mujadara is a dish of lentils and rice (or bulghur), made with a surfeit of deep, dark, caramelized onions. The onions completely make this dish. Do not stint on the onions. In fact, in one blog, this admonition was followed by the fact that her relatives used twice the amount used in her recipe!

Whenever I research a recipe from a culture that is not mine, I try and stick to recipes from people of that culture. They would certainly know better what it is that makes a dish. Reading recipes from other sources not of the culture, where a slew of additional flavors are added in, either as enhancement or compensation, well, this is, IMHO, trying to change the culture, and there I try instead to remain a purist. 

In all the recipes written by a Middle Eastern (by background and culture, no matter where they live), there were - besides salt and water - just 5 main ingredients: lentils, rice (or bulghur), lots of onions, oil for sauteeing the onions (usually olive oil) and cumin. Period. Amounts may vary. Methods may vary. Ingredients did not vary. 

👀I did opt to parboil the lentils in a separate pan, for the one simple reason that it is best not to salt the lentils while they cook, as this toughens their skins and makes a longer cooking time. 

Ultimately, my Mujadara, though it takes a little while to make, was so very worthwhile. The flavors were sublime. My husband will tolerate lentils, if in the right application. He loved this dish nearly as much as I. I heartily recommend it to anyone. Vegetarians will love it for its complete protein. It is great accompanied by a simple salad, or tomatoes, or a tomato and cucumber salad. Of course, meat to accompany is fine. A dollop of Greek yogurt, or as I used, tzatziki, is also a great flavor combo. 

Mujadara

Mujadara

Serves 8 as a side dish

1 cup brown lentils

1 cup long grain or basmati rice

4 cups water, divided

4 medium onions, divided (more, if desired)

2 - 4 tablespoons olive oil

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds

Begin with the onions, as these take time. Chop three of the onions. Heat a goodly sized skillet over medium to medium low heat. Add in half the olive oil to heat and then the chopped onions. Stirring often, saute the onions until they are well past simple caramelization, and on into the realm of almost burnt. Sprinkle the salt over the onions while cooking as this helps draw moisture. The darker the onions, the better the flavors in the dish. Towards the end of cooking, add in the  cumin.

Dark Sauteed Onions for Garnish

Once the onions are almost ready, place 2 cups of the water and the lentils into a medium saucepan. Cover and cook for about 12 to 15 minutes. The lentils are just parboiled at this time. Add the contents of the pot, with any liquids remaining, to the onions in the large skillet. Add in the remaining 2 cups of water and the rice. Stir, bring to boil and lower to a simmer. Time for approximately 20 minutes. Leave the lid on and remove the skillet from the heat. Let steam for an additional 10 or 15 minutes if there is time. 

While the lentils and rice cook, heat another, smaller skillet and add the remaining olive oil. Cut the last onion into long slivers or rings and again, saute these until very deep dark in color. Once they are dark enough, pour them out onto paper toweling to absorb excess oil, and to crisp up a bit. Once the Mujadara is ready to serve, use these onions to garnish the dish.

Serve with a salad, a Shirazi salad (cucumber, tomato and onion), sliced tomatoes, a dollop of labneh, plain Greek yogurt, or tzatziki, some mint sprigs or cilantro, and this meal is fit for a king.

My passion is teaching people how to create a harmony of flavors with their cooking, and passing along my love and joy of food, both simple or exotic, plain or fancy. I continue my journey in ethnic and domestic cuisines, continuing my journey to explore diverse culinary experiences and hopefully to start you on a journey of your own. Join me also at A Harmony of Flavors on Facebook, and Pinterest.

Venturing Afield with Indian Recipes

Last year I created for myself a cookbook of Indian recipes I had made, plus adding in some that I wanted to try. Of course, with as much as I love Indian foods and flavors, I am constantly finding new things to try. And so it was that in the course of researching Indian food, or spices or whatever of the moment took my interest, I discovered recipes for Bisi Bele Bath.

You might well be saying "Bisi . . . . .what????" That is pretty much what I did. 

Bisi Bele Bath

Many, many Indian recipes call for a pre-made spice mixture. Of course, many households make up their own, but in this day and age, pre-mixed spices exist in packets, boxes or jars, and many Indians choose to go this route. It certainly would cut down on the amount of different spices one must keep in the home. Making from scratch means a very long list of spices needed to be on hand. As it happens, I have an amazing amount of Indian spices on hand! 

Bisi Bele Bath

So when I came upon recipes for Bisi Bele Bath, a vegetarian recipe of rice, lentils and vegetables from the Indian state of Karnataka, of course it called for a spice mixture. Some recipes online had all the spices listed and created the mixture as with any recipe: get out the spices, measure, toast, grind (or not). Other recipes I encountered called for using a Bisi Bele Bath Spice Mix, with their own recipe available on their site. And some few other recipes called for a particular favorite brand of Bisi Bele Bath Spice Mix. Reading all these recipes, it became a personal challenge then, to make up my own spice mix for this dish.

Coming back to the unusual name for this dish, it is explained everywhere online that Bisi = Piping Hot; Bele = Lentils; Bath = Made with Rice. So, in essence, Bisi Bele Bath means "A Piping Hot Lentil and Rice Dish." Paraphrasing. The addition of vegetables to this dish is optional. Vegetables can be added to the meal in other ways, if you choose.

Bisi Bele Bath Spice Mix 

Makes enough for a few recipes of Bisi Bele Bath

4 dried red chilies (with or without seeds)
-----
4 tablespoons coriander seeds
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
¼ teaspoon fenugreek seeds
-----
1½ tablespoons channa dal (Bengal gram/desi chickpea)
2 teaspoons urad dal
-----
4 whole cloves
3 green cardamom pods, lightly crushed
4-inch piece soft (true) cinnamon, or 1-inch piece of cassia bark 
1 - 2 pieces mace blades* (see Note)
1 teaspoon black peppercorns
4 Kapok buds (Marathi moggu)* (see Notes)
-----
1 tablespoon white poppy seeds
-----
4 teaspoons dried unsweetened coconut
-----
1 teaspoon asafetida
-----
10 - 12 fresh curry leaves

Heat a dry skillet over medium to medium high heat. Have a wide plate or bowl ready to hold the hot spices for cooling, after toasting. Each section of the spices will be toasted separately, turning out to the plate to cool. Toast until the spices are fragrant, but in no way burnt.

1. First, toast the dried chilies. If you wish less heat, break them and remove seeds, along with stems. Toast the chilies until they begin to change color; turn out to the plate to cool.
2. Add in to the skillet the coriander, cumin and fenugreek seeds and stirring constantly, allow them to change color slightly and smell wonderful, then
   turn out to the plate to cool.
3.  Now add in the two dals (dry, uncooked) and stirring constantly, allow them to become golden brown, but not burnt. Then,
   turn out to the plate to cool.
4. Add to the skillet the cloves, cardamom pods, cinnamon pieces, mace blades, black peppercorns and Kapok buds, if using. Toast them until fragrant, how long will depend on how high the heat. Stir constantly until colored, then turn out to the plate to cool.
5. Pour in the white poppy seeds and keep them moving, just until they start to change color, then turn out to the plate to cool.
6. Add in the dry coconut and stir quickly, it will go from white to blackened in seconds! Once the coconut turns golden, turn out to the plate to cool.
7. Add in the asafetida and stir quickly, just until it smells of onions, then turn out to the plate to cool.
8. Add in the fresh curry leaves and toss, stirring until they are completely dried and crisped, then turn out to the plate to cool.    

Allow the spices to cool to nearly room temperature, then grind them to powder using a spice grinder/coffee grinder used only for spices. This may require grinding in various batches. Once ground, stir well to distribute evenly, then keep stored in a tightly sealed glass jar in a cool, dark place.

NOTES:  If mace blades are not available, substitute by adding in about ¼ teaspoon ground mace at the end, after all spices are ground to powder. Kapok buds, or Marathi moggu, are a new spice for me. I ordered them and used them as the recipes say this is an authentic flavor. If you do not have or cannot get them, just omit.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In the U.S., we don't often go for, or even think of, mixing up lentil and rice dishes, unless you are vegetarian, and then it is important because rice and lentils combined make a complete protein. Simply cooked rice and lentils are not much of a draw, as they haven't much flavor. All I can say is that this dish does not lack flavor! It is a thick, soft mixture, which may not seem to appeal. But flavors are wonderful, so despite what your eyes may tell you, it is worthwhile giving this dish a try.

Bisi Bele Bath

Bisi Bele Bath

Serves 4 to 6 

¾ cup toor dal (aka ardhar dal)
¾ cup long or short grain rice
5 cups water
-----
¼ tamarind, from a compressed block 
1 cup water, hot
2½ tablespoons Bisi Bele Bath Spice Mix
-----
1 tablespoon ghee or oil
1 medium onion, chopped
1 teaspoon salt
-----
½ cup cubed carrot
½ cup green peas
½ cup potatoes in small cubes
½ cup green beans, cut in little pieces

TEMPERING / FLAVORING:
1 tablespoon ghee or oil
1 teaspoon brown mustard seeds
10 fresh curry leaves  
1 dried red chili, whole
10 cashews
½ teaspoon asafetida/hing 

Before beginning any prep, rinse the toor dal in copious quantities of water, until the water runs mostly clear. Then, cover the dal with water and set aside for ½ hour. At this time also, set the tamarind chunk to soak separately, in the hot water.

Once dal has soaked, combine the dal with the rice in a pot of adequate size, cover with the 5 cups of water and bring to boil. Reduce to simmer and cook until the rice and dal are both very soft, 20 to 30 minutes. Use a spoon or a potato masher to mash up the mixture. Set aside.

In a skillet, heat the ghee and add in the chopped onion and salt to cook until soft. While onion is sauteeing, break apart and strain the tamarind in a strainer over a bowl, to catch all the liquids. Press to get as much from the tamarind as possible, then discard the seeds and fibers. Add the Bisi Bele Bath Spice Mix to the tamarind and stir. Once the onion is nicely soft, add the tamarind liquid into the skillet, along with the carrots, peas, potatoes and green beans, then cook the vegetables until tender, adding water if needed for cooking. Once done, pour the contents of the skillet into the rice and lentil pot.

Set the skillet back on the heat and add in the ghee for tempering. Once ghee is very hot, add the brown mustard, until the seeds begin popping. Quickly add in the curry leaves, dried chili, whole cashews and the asafetida/hing. Cook for just a few minutes, until everything is very fragrant. Pour half of the contents of the skillet into the pot with the lentils and rice, stirring well, then pour the mixture into a serving bowl, garnishing with the reserved tempering mixture for presentation.


My passion is teaching people how to create a harmony of flavors with their cooking, and passing along my love and joy of food, both simple or exotic, plain or fancy. I continue my journey in ethnic and domestic cuisines, continuing my journey to explore diverse culinary experiences and hopefully to start you on a journey of your own. Join me also at A Harmony of Flavors on Facebook, and Pinterest.

Making a Lamb Curry

It's been about 2½ weeks since I wrote. An unexpected trip came up, and unfortunately, the time and place I had intended to write had no wi-fi hookup. Then I was with my sisters and families and while I had an absolute ball seeing family again, there was no time at all left over to write a blog. But shopping - ahhhh. We Shopped. Capital "S".

I am home now, and just before we left on this trip I had received delivery of a whole, butchered lamb, much to my joy. Lamb here is extremely expensive, if one can even find it, so when I was at the Farmers' Market just over a month back, I was overjoyed to see a sign saying "Ask Me About Lamb!" I went to the woman and asked! She said they raise sheep and were looking to get into the market a bit more widely around here. I was overjoyed to tell her right there and then that I wanted a lamb. As I said, it was delivered just before our trip, so I had not had an opportunity to use it before we left. As soon as we got back I remedied that right away.

My husband and I love lamb, and one of my most favorite ways to make it is in something Indian. I had made Keema Matar (ground lamb with peas) in past, but since living up here, I have only been able to make it with beef hamburger meat. Our dinner was so delightful. Yesterday I wanted to try out the stew meat. In these parts they call it "chislic", and it is used most often to either fry or stew and often is served with toothpicks as an appetizer. Marie said she used hers most often to make her curries. I was a little dismayed to find out just how much fat was on these bits and pieces of meat. To use it as chislic would have been fine, as frying the meat would render a large portion of the fat away. To use in a curry type dish (without browning the meat), this was just far too much fat for my taste. I easily trimmed off ½ pound of fat from the 1½ pound package of chislic meat. Oh well.

Lamb Korma with rice and Chapatis

My Korma Konundrum

There is a recipe that is in all of my Indian cookbooks (about 6 or so), called Korma. Usually made with lamb, this dish has a sauce that is very pale and in some cases, bland. Surprising, when you think about Indian cooking to have a recipe come out so bland. I have tried various iterations of the recipe from many of these books and have never been quite satisfied. It is one thing to have a nice, light sauce with lots of flavor. I love my Chicken and Dumplings with its creamy-white sauce and great flavor. The Korma has mostly been, well, meh. I sat down yesterday with all my books laid open to the page with this recipe, to try and piece together what, exactly makes Korma. I created a recipe based on my findings. I am not Indian, though I just love all the flavors and spices. How much of what I did is genuinely authentic, I have no clue. All I can say for sure is that the result was most excellent.

From my study of all the recipes in all these books, there are some things that stand out as common parts of this recipe. One is the particular masala used. Masala is a mixture of spices; nothing more. In the case of a Korma, in every book these spices were at minimum coriander, cumin, cinnamon and cardamom. I added a tiny bit of cloves and a small tej patta leaf, both found in one particular recipe. Another thing that is common to all the recipes is the use of plain yogurt for a marinade. A third thing common to all the recipes is the use of nuts to thicken the sauce. Most common (and according to one book's explanation, most authentic) is almonds, though cashews can be used. A fourth thing is that the sauce is created from pureeing together onions and garlic (at minimum), with the possible additions of fresh ginger root and green chiles to your tolerance lever. Some add in dried red chiles also. I do not mind some slightly hotter dishes, but my husband is a South Dakota boy, born and bred, and he jokes that ketchup is the hottest he can stand. 

One thing only differed in one of the recipes. When it came to making this pureed sauce, most books had one pureeing raw onion, garlic and ginger. One book only called for first sauteing the onions golden, adding the garlic and ginger to the pan to make them fragrant and then pureeing this combination into a sauce, along with the blanched almonds. This seemed to make more sense, as I have been looking for more flavor. 

One complaint about the Kormas I have made, aside from lack of flavor, is that the sauce always seems to be enough for 2 or 3 recipes worth of meat. If the almonds are supposed to thicken the sauce, there is just no way to thicken this much runny liquid, and the cooking time would have to double in order to cook out some of the liquid. By first sauteing the onions, garlic and ginger, and then pureeing with the almonds, the mixture was so thick I had to add far more than the ½ cup of water I had allotted to this task. Beef or lamb stock could (and perhaps should) be substituted for the water, but I hadn't enough time to accomplish the making of a stock beforehand. Water it was, then.

Blanching Almonds

Peeling Blanched Almonds

Blanching almonds is an easy enough task. It can be a bit time-consuming, depending on how many almonds need to be used. When blanching and peeling a pound of them for making almond paste, it is time consuming indeed. For the purposes of this small recipe it was a snap. It is best to use whole, raw almonds, when blanching and peeling. Place the almonds into a saucepan and just cover with water. Bring the pan to a boil, remove from heat and let rest for a minute. Drain and rinse with cold water, then hold an almond in one hand and pinch the skin (which is now very loose) at the thicker end. The white almond will start to pop out of the pointed end. Once in a while, one almond will be contrary and pop out the blunt end, but not often. Do this with each almond, until they are all done.

If using for a sauce such as this Korma, they are now ready to use. If looking to process into a powder that will be stored, they will first need to be dried completely, so as not to rot.

Lamb Korma

Serves 2 to 3

Lamb Korma with rice and chapatis

LAMB MARINADE:
1 pound lamb stew meat, in small chunks
½ cup plain yogurt
½ teaspoon saffron threads
1 tablespoon rosewater (or plain water, if rosewater is not available)
1 teaspoon salt

SAUCE:
1 tablespoon ghee or cooking oil
1 large onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon fresh ginger, minced
1 - 3 green chilies (serrano, jalapeno)
½ cup almonds, blanched and peeled
½ - ¾ cup water or stock

MASALA:
1½ teaspoons coriander seeds
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
1-inch true cinnamon stick, crumbled
¼ teaspoon cardamom seeds (or remove the seeds from two green pods)
2 whole cloves
1 small tej patta (Indian Bay leaf), veins removed, crumbled

Make the marinade: Stir together the saffron threads with the rosewater or plain water and set aside for a few minutes while preparing the meat. In a bowl large enough to hold the meat and yogurt, mix together the yogurt with the saffron and its soaking liquid and the salt. Add in the meat and toss to coat completely with the marinade. Cover the container and refrigerate for about 2 hours.
 

Sauteed onion mixture in blender  |  blanched almonds added     |     mixture pureed with water     |     finished sauce

Make the sauce: Set the almonds to blanch as described above. Heat a skillet and add in the ghee or oil with the onions and saute, stirring very often until the onions begin to turn golden, about 10 to 12 minutes. While onions are sauteing, prepare the green chilies. If you love the heat, remove the stems and chop them whole. For less heat, remove seeds and membranes also before chopping. Add in the garlic, ginger and chilies and saute for another 3 to 5 minutes, until the ginger and garlic become very fragrant. Pour the sauteed mixture into a blender. Add in the blanched and peeled almonds and some of the water or stock and blend until smooth, adding more water by small amounts, only as needed. If done earlier in the day, or even a day before, place this pureed mixture into a container with a lid and refrigerate until needed.

Masala Spices

Make the Masala: Heat a dry skillet over medium heat until quite hot. Add in all the whole spices and stir constantly and shake the pan often until the spices are very fragrant and lightly toasted, about 1 or 2 minutes, depending on how hot the pan. Pour the toasted spices at once onto a plate to cool. Leaving them in the pan will overcook or burn them. Once cooled, grind them in a small spice grinder or with a mortar and pestle. Set aside until needed.

Make the Korma: In a large skillet, heat 1 tablespoon more ghee or oil. Add in the sauce and the Masala mixture and stir well to combine. Add in the meat with its marinade and stir well. Cover and cook the mixture over low heat for about 45 minutes or an hour. Serve the Korma with rice. Chapatis make a nice accompaniment - recipe in next blog!

My passion is teaching people how to create a harmony of flavors with their cooking, and passing along my love and joy of food, both simple or exotic, plain or fancy. I continue my journey in ethnic and domestic cuisines, continuing my journey to explore diverse culinary experiences and hopefully to start you on a journey of your own. Join me also at A Harmony of Flavors on Facebook, and Pinterest.