This is really not the way to eat mjaddara (mdardara to be exact). But if you’re in Italy and that’s the only way to get some bread around your food… well, beggars can’t be choosers. So here’s Pia’s recipe for the mjaddara (mdardara):
Ingredients: 2 cups of lentils 3/4 cup of rice 1 large onion Some olive oil, salt and pepper + Plenty of onions for the caramelized onion topping! Preparation: Cook the lentils in plenty of water until soft. Wash the rice and add it to the cooking pot. Cover the lid after the water boils again. Let it simmer for about 20 minutes. In the mean time, dice the onion and cook it in just a bit of olive oil until translucent. Add the cooked onion, salt and pepper (to taste) to the other ingredients. Then add 2 large table spoons of extra virgin olive oil to the pot. Mix well, then turn off the heat. Pour in a serving dish and top it with caramelized onions.
The mjaddara is a dish best served cold (like vengeance!). It gets even better tasting after a couple of days in the fridge. The sandwich I made was just some (old) bread, mjaddara, rocca (ruccola), sliced tomatoes and a drizzle of balsamic vinegar to top it off. Simply yummy!
“When it rains, it’s definitely time for soups and stews!” says Abdallah.
Today it rained in the morning, so I decided to cook something special for my dear husband.
It’s been three weeks now that I am cooking almost everyday. The COOP is near, and I ‘m managing with the ingredients here.
So far we’ve had: Tawouk, Mjaddara, Riz w Fasouliah, Balila, Fasouliah Bzeit and Tabbouleh (without mint & bulgur). But we were still craving for stews with rice, and Abdallah had mentioned earlier craving for ‘Aleb Khodra’ (Lebanese vegetables stew). I had found earlier in the frozen section of the COOP, a bag of frozen mixed vegetables for Minestrone*, and I thought I could give this traditional italian dish a Lebanese twist
Meat, onion, tomato sauce and paste, pepper and oregano… and cooked rice.
Minestrone: Thick Italian soup made with vegetables, often with the addition of pasta or rice. Common ingredients include beans, onions, celery, carrots, stock, and tomatoes.
My Grandmother and mother were coming to have lunch at our place last week.
It all happened the last minute, I was cleaning the house and preparing many things… I was nevertheless able to make a decent meal.
I cooked a chicken and potato casserole (with wine and mushroom) and even made a delicious banana cake. But what about salad? Granny loves cabbage! and that’s how the idea of this combination came out:
Ingredients:
Cabbage (mixture or green & red cabbage) julienned
Carrots shredded
Avocado (cut to cubes)
Lemon Juice
Olive oil
Parmesan shavings
Walnuts crushed
Salt & pepper to taste
Preparation:
Mix the cabbage and carrots together and add the lemon juice, salt & pepper and olive oil.
Serve them in a big salad plate, distribute the avocado cubes evenly on top.
Use a potato peeler to make Parmesan shavings to garnish the salad.
