Mjeddrah - Jacob's Guile

Category	main dish
Classification	Lebanese
Added By	phyllis.watson@gmail.com
Added On	Wed Aug 22 21:45:06 UTC 2018
Prep Time	requires soaking the lentils ahead of time
Yield	enough for 5 people
Source	Woman's Day Encyclopedia of Cookery
Comment	I love this stuff - don't use gray French lentils

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups lentils
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups onions, cut up not too finely
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup rice
1 1/2 tablespoons butter
crisp, fried onions
salad greens
tomatoes
raw salad onions
cucumbers
radishes
celery
olive oil
lemon juice
paprika
mustard
garlic rubbed salt
sugar
1 tablespoon dried mint
hard rolls
strong black olives
white goat's milk cheese (can be

Directions

1. Soak lentils in cold water in the morning.An hour before serving, drain the lentils and put in a pot with 4 cups of cold water and 1 teaspoon salt. Cover and cook on medium heat, simmering and stirring once in a while to prevent sticking.

2. Heat the olive oil, add 1 teaspoon salt and add the cut up onions. Cook covered, very slowly until soft and yellow.

3. Saute the rice in butter for a couple of minutes until it loses its translucence and becomes white again.

4. Add the rice and onions to the lentils, with enough hot water (about 2 cups) to finish cooking the rice. Add the water a cup at a time, being careful not to add more than the rice and lentils will absorb by the time they are cooked, soft but not mushy.

5. You now have a choice of how to serve the mjeddrah. You can either put the fried onions on top of the mixture of rice and lentils and serve the salad on the side, or you can put the salad on top of the lentil mixture on your plate and eat it with or without the onions.

Salad: greens, tomatoes, raw onions are a must. Cucumbers, radishes, celery are a nice addition.

Salad dressing: 3 parts olive oil to 2 parts lemon juice, quite a lot of paprika, pinches of sugar, mustard, and garlic rubbed salt.

Just before serving you can sprinkle 1 tablespoon dried mint over the lentils and rice. Hard rolls or Syrian bread, strong black olives, and white, goat's milk cheese are a nice addition.

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