Brenda Janschek
I’ve been reminiscing a lot lately about the food I grew up with. I think it was triggered by my recent introduction to the fabuloso gluten free restaurant Chic Pea in Summer Hill run by Fouad Kassab. It’s not every day you can just go and strike up a conversation about Tahineh (a delicious breakfast spread) or Mann al-Sams (Iraqi Taffy and my all time favourite sweet). Ta-what? Ma-who? So it was a real thrill to be able to discuss these dishes with a real foodie after my own heart.
I don’t really cook traditional Iraqi food that much for my family. I leave that to my mum who visits every second Tuesday night with a truckload of Cooba bil Leben (Arabic meatballs in yoghurt soup), Fasoulia (white beans with lamb in tomato sauce) and Baklava (Lebanese sweets, which she forgot this week, and is now in the bad books!).
Mjuddra is a wholesome, tasty vegetarian dish of lentils, rice and caramelised onions that I have always looked forward to when visiting my Lebanese Aunties and cousins. Having a fair idea of how this simple recipe would go, I checked with my foodie Auntie (who made my favourite version … sorry mum) to get the benefit of her experience, and tweaked it to make it right for me (and you).
Apparently this is an ancient dish that has roots in the Old Testament, being mentioned in Genesis as the dish Jacob gave up his inheritance for. He clearly had good taste, if not good financial know how.
The recipe is inexpensive, easy to make and delicious. I hasten to add at this point that you should try to soak your lentils in an acidic medium and rinse off well before cooking (I did my rice too) the night before. This makes them both more digestible and quicker to cook. It’s delicious served with Fatoush (a beautiful Arabic salad) or a cabbage salad and minted yoghurt.
Here’s the recipe:
Ingredients
1 cup brown lentils
1/2 cup basmati rice
approx 2.5 cups water (use home-made chicken stock if not a vegetarian)
3 medium onions, diced
2 tablespoons ghee (or coconut oil)
approx 1 tsp Celtic sea salt
pinch of cumin
Parsley, chopped
Preparation – go to: www.brendajanschek.com/recipes-nutrition/mjaddra/
Mjaddra can be eaten hot or at room temperature with a side salad and some natural yoghurt mixed with mint, lemon juice and some ground coriander. You could even add some Lebanese bread if you like. We ate it with a thinly sliced raw cabbage salad with some salt, lemon and olive oil drizzled on it.
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