Mujadara - bulgur with lentils

[shain]

 

• apx 175g green/brown lentils, soaked overnight /a few hours
• 1.5 tsp salt
• ~
• apx 250g (1.5 cups) bulgur soaked overnight  /a few hours - I strongly suggest that you use unbroken bulgur (aka extra coarse / coarse) generally, I use only whole bulgur when cooking, other than for some rare usages such as tabbouleh.
• salt
• optional: 2 tsp nutritional yeast
• ~
• 5-6 onions, apx 750g, diced
• butter or oil
• 3 cloves of garlic, minced
• 2.5 tsp cumin, ground
• chili flakes to taste
• 1/2 to 2/3 tsp allspice, ground
• 1/2 tsp curry powder
• 1/2 tsp cardamom, ground
• 1-2 tsp cinnamon, ground
• black pepper
• ~
• 2 tbsp sumac
• apx 3 tbsp lemon juice
• optional: a handful of parsley, chopped

To serve:

• A generous amount of thick yogurt
• Toasted pine nuts or slivered almonds

 

Prep:

• Cook the lentils in water with salt. Drain and reserve cooking water.
• ~
• Discard bulgur soaking water.
• Cook in a covered pot, over low flame, adding a little lentil cooking water or plain water as needed. Stir occasionally. Cooked bulgur should have a bite to it, but cooked through.
• Add salt and optional nutritional yeast.
• ~
• In a wide pot, saute the onions in butter/oil until well caramelized.
• Add a little more fat and briefly fry the garlic.
• Add the spices (other than sumac) - cumin, chili, allspice, curry powder, cardamom, cinnamon, black pepper. Cook briefly.
• Mix in the cooked bulgur and lentils.
• Heat through. Adding lentil cooking water or plain water as needed to keep the mujadara "juicy".
• Add sumac, lemon, parsley and salt to taste.
• Serve with yogurt. Top with nuts.