Majadra - rice and lentils

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ChossidMom ↓

Tue, Sep 02 2008, 10:54 am

Today I made a really yummy healthy dish: Majadra.

Here's the recipe:

2 Cups of brown rice (preferably soaked for 2 hours)
1 Cup Lentils (checked and boiled for 20 minutes)
1 tsp. salt
2 tsp soup powder without msg.
2 tsp Camun (don't know how to say that in English)
2 TBS oil
2 Onions + 3 cloves garlic

Boil up the lentils
sautee onions and garlic
add rice to the onions and garlic and fry a bit.
add lentils to rice
Pour in 4 1/4 cups of boiling water
Add spices
Cook for about 40 minutes on a low flame.

Scrumptious and healthy.

Tamiri ↓

Tue, Sep 02 2008, 10:57 am

ChossidMom wrote:

2 tsp Camun (don't know how to say that in English)

Cumin. Yum.

willow ↓

Tue, Sep 02 2008, 10:58 am

Maybe you mean Cumin? I have a question I use brown rice and I never soak it why do you soak?

PIP

Tue, Sep 02 2008, 10:59 am

Funny story about majadra. My father is Egyptian and my mother Syrian. It's pretty much the same except for a few minor pronunciations in arabic (different lingos).
So my mother when she was first married made it for supper (she pronounces it minjedrah) and my father comes home sees it in the pot and goes OOOO MAGADARA!!!!!!!
Well, my mother flipped out thought it was some kind of rat in arabic or something and started screaming KILL IT KILL IT!!!!!! My father was sooo confused!!! hehe

But yeah, try it w\ a little sour cream, yum!

↑ Tamiri ↓

Tue, Sep 02 2008, 11:04 am

The thing with majadra is that there is a balance between the rice absorbing liquid and the lentils not getting mushy. Brown rice takes longer to cook and much more liquid than white rice. Perhaps soaking it speeds up the absorption, before the lentils turn mushy?
I posted a recipe for Majadra before 9 beAv using white rice. I will check on the rice/lentil/water ratios there.
I see it's 1 cup white rice with unspecified water, as you "eye" it. http://imamother.com/forum/vie.....28734

Last edited by Tamiri on Tue, Sep 02 2008, 11:07 am; edited 1 time in total

↑ willow

Tue, Sep 02 2008, 11:07 am

oh that makes sense, thanx.

↑ ChossidMom ↓

Tue, Sep 02 2008, 11:07 am

willow wrote:

Maybe you mean Cumin? I have a question I use brown rice and I never soak it why do you soak?

I actually didn't soak it and I have NO idea why you should. I took the recipe out of a small cookbook that was put out by my local health food store. Next time I'm in there I'll ask them why it's better to soak the rice.

BTW the lentils did not become mushy at all. Could be the rice was still a little hard but it was still too yummy. And I usually hate brown rice. I guess all the flavorings + the onions did the job!

↑ Tamiri ↓

Tue, Sep 02 2008, 11:09 am

You want the lentils tender and "echad echad" (one at a time) and the same for rice, "echad echad". Sfardim and Oriental are very particular that their rice dishes not be a gloppy mess.

↑ ChossidMom ↓

Tue, Sep 02 2008, 11:11 am

And they are darn good at it, unlike me! But today I got lucky!

↑ Tamiri ↓

Tue, Sep 02 2008, 11:14 am

Talk to me. I will have you making "echad echad" white rice in no time flat. Brown rice too. The trick with the white rice is not to measure the water with anything but your eye.... Oh, and the quality of the rice matters as well.

↑ ChossidMom ↓

Tue, Sep 02 2008, 11:27 am

I'm talking.

So how do I do it?
I usually make 1 cup of white rice (the expensive kind in the vacuum packs) with 1 1/3 cup or water. My kids do like it but I can't say it comes out "echad echad"...

My brown rice usually glops and is NOT great. Today was the exception. So, what's the secret?

↑ Tamiri ↓

Tue, Sep 02 2008, 11:35 am

Buy Basmati or Jasmine rice. You can thank me afterwards. I imagine it's available in your super but I find it less expensive all hamishkal in the health food store.
Boil up a kettle of water. While the water is boiling, gently toast however much rice you want to use in a bit of (olive) oil in the bottom of a [u]heavy pan[/u]. This is important to keep the heat even and prevent burning. Rice should not turn color, just be toasted and dry. A little tan is okay. When the water is boiling, pour enough of it over the rice to cover, plus a tiny little bit. Maybe 2 cm or less. Bring to a boil again - this should take no time since the water was already boiling. Cover the pot with a tight fitting lid. Lower the flame to a simmer. In about 10 minutes the water should be absorbed (you can peek). Turn off the flame and let the rice continue to absorb the steam. After about five minutes, fluff, salt and serve.
The house will smell divine. Basmati smells something like popcorn when it's cooking.
The Persians, who really know how to make rice, have whole rituals which include using a towel under the lid to keep the steam in. My method works for non Persians.
I think you can make this with plain rice as well. Please try it and let me know if they rice was fabulous. My kids happen to love my rice. Growing up I can't remember liking rice - my mother is American and cooked rice like... an American.

freidasima

Tue, Sep 02 2008, 11:41 am

Tamiri, where did you learn to cook rice so well you Ashkenazi American?!!!
That's how I make brown rice, and it comes out great.
I also do it the easy way, I brown in a teflon pan without oil, boil up water in a kettle, put the rice into a pot and pour the boiling water on to it, and then add curcum and a drop of salt, boil, and cook and then rinse. Some of the curcum comes out but even the brownest of rice comes out yellow.
And the yellow (curcum) has been proven to be very healthy, it's an antioxidant and prevents many disesases...

↑ ChossidMom

Tue, Sep 02 2008, 11:42 am

Ok, although I'm a bit noivous about not measuring out the water!

I may be using basmati rice. I usually buy whatever there is. Sometimes it's Jasmin and sometimes Basmati. What other kind is there? Pardon my ignorance.

↑ Tamiri ↓

Tue, Sep 02 2008, 11:42 am

freidasima wrote:

In my spare time.

TheBeinoni

Sun, Oct 05 2008, 10:00 pm

I think they say mujadara was what Esav ate???

Tamiri when are you publishing your cookbook? Can I preorder a signed copy?

creativemommyto3

Sun, Oct 05 2008, 11:27 pm

hotmama wrote:

I think they say mujadara was what Esav ate???

Tamiri when are you publishing your cookbook? Can I preorder a signed copy?

me too, with the frugal tips too!

↑ Tamiri ↓

Mon, Oct 06 2008, 12:23 am

You need to be original to create a cookbook. I just copy from others.

HooRYou ↓

Mon, Oct 06 2008, 12:36 am

Tamiri, I don't know if you are still on a career hunting tack, but I think instead of going into some new field you should just be out there teaching household management and balebustaship. A lot of people could gain from all of your competence and capabilities.

↑ Tamiri

Mon, Oct 06 2008, 12:52 am

Thanks Hooray. But who will pay to learn from me?
I actually applied to be a volunteer at Paamonim. I have to wait for a course. Then try out the volunteering. After that, I will see if I can make money where my mouth is.

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