Yotam Ottolenghi's Lentil Rice (Mejadra)

Lentil rice served in a white pot, topped with crispy onions, yogurt, and cucumber slices.

Yotam Ottolenghi's Lentil Rice (Mejadra)

A comforting, earthy pilaf-style rice dish spiced with Middle Eastern flavors and adorned with fried onions. Eat it as a main meal, or as a side to chicken or red meat.

Prep Time5

Cook Time35

Total Time40

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: Middle Eastern

Keyword: lentil rice, mejadra, pilaf, steam oven rice

Servings:

Calories: 787kcal

Ingredients

Fried Onions

1 cup sunflower oil or other vegetable oil 250 ml
3 onions large, or 4 small, very finely sliced
1/2 tsp table salt plus extra for seasoning

Rice

2 Tbsp olive oil
1 cup basmati rice or other long grain rice
2 tsp ground coriander or 1 1/2 Tbsp whole coriander seeds
1 1/2 tsp ground cumin or 2 tsp whole cumin seeds
1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground turmeric
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
1 tsp granulated sugar
1 tsp table salt
1 1/4 cups water see notes / 315 ml
14 oz canned brown lentils drained (1 can, 400g), or 250g dried lentils, cooked in a steam oven and drained
Plain Greek or unsweetened yoghurt mixed with sliced cucumber, garlic, mint and lemon juice to serve, see notes

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

Fry the onions

Turn on your cooktop to medium high heat and heat the oil in an ovenproof casserole dish. While this happens, mix the sliced onions with the salt.
3 onions, 1/2 tsp table salt, 1 cup sunflower oil
Add about a third of the onions to the hot oil, and cook until golden and crispy, about 5-6 minutes. You want them to cook to a nice deep golden brown, but not to burn, so keep moving them around and adjust your heat if need be. Use tongs or a slotted spoon to lift the cooked onions out, leaving the oil behind. Drain on paper towels.
Repeat the frying and draining with the remaining onions in two more batches (add more oil if you need to, although I find there's enough) .

Cook the rice

Preheat your steam oven to steam only, 212°F/100°C (100% humidity).
Tip any remaining oil out of the casserole dish and give it a quick wipe over with paper towel. Reduce the heat to medium low and add the olive oil.
2 Tbsp olive oil
Tip in the rice and stir to coat all the grains with oil, then add all the spices, sugar and salt and stir well to combine. Turn off the heat.
1 cup basmati rice, 2 tsp ground coriander, 1 1/2 tsp ground cumin, 1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon, 1/2 tsp ground turmeric, 1/2 tsp ground black pepper, 1 tsp granulated sugar, 1 tsp table salt
Add the water and drained lentils to the rice, and stir just to mix everything together.
1 1/4 cups water, 14 oz canned brown lentils
Put the pan, uncovered, into your steam oven and cook for 18 minutes. Most of the liquid should be absorbed.
Remove the rice from the oven, cover and let it rest for 5-10 minutes, before fluffing with a fork.
Stir about 3/4 of the onions gently through the rice, then scatter the rest of the onions over the top of the dish. Serve warm with cucumber yoghurt spooned over the top of each portion.
Plain Greek or unsweetened yoghurt mixed with sliced cucumber, garlic, mint and lemon juice

Notes

This recipe is adapted from the wonderful cookbook Jerusalem, by Yotam Ottolenghi. Ottolenghi's version uses whole spices, which are more traditional, however I most often use ground as it's more kid-friendly and I don't always have whole spices to hand. I've given the whole spice quantities in the ingredients; feel free to use them instead.
The original recipe has you keep the rice on the stove, covering and cooking over very low heat to absorb the water. I've replaced this step with the steam oven, which has the effect of cooking the rice more evenly and not needing to control the heat of your stove. The flavor and texture of the finished dish was almost the same when I tried them side by side, but the steamed rice was a little more fluffy.
Ottolenghi rubs a few tablespoons of flour and a teaspoon of salt into his onions before frying. I tried it, and they were a little more crispy and golden than the unfloured version, but not enough for me to bother doing it all the time. Not using flour also gives the benefit of the dish being gluten free - helpful if you want to make a large pot to serve a crowd and are catering to various dietary considerations.
If you're short on time or inclination, you can substitute bought fried shallots, available in the Asian section of most grocery stores, for the fried onions. The texture is more crispy (my husband prefers this!) and the flavor is very close to the home-fried onion version of the dish.
I like to serve Ottolenghi's cucumber yoghurt with the rice; you can keep measurements rough and 'to taste' with this. My version is about a cup of Greek (or unsweetened natural) yoghurt mixed with a crushed clove of garlic, 2-3 finely sliced baby cucumbers, a handful of torn mint and the juice of half a lemon.

Nutrition