ImJaddara

[corax]

Corax, I had forgotten the tradition that says Mjaddarah was the meal that Esau sold his birthright for.

He should have learned to be independent and cook for himself, then he wouldn't have had to sell anything. 

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LOL! yep -- he had it all ... right from the start. but i guess it just goes to show you what a dish of this stuff can do to someone who's sufficiently hungry ... both my grandfather and my father craved it [and made it themselves if they couldn't coax anyone else to do it for them LOL] -- i myself didn't come round to loving it until i became an adult. i think that had to do with precisely the aesthetic issue you mentioned earlier ...

[FoodMan]

I honestly have not had a decent Imjadarra in a while but this thread really made me crave it so I made some a couple of days ago and served it with one of my favorite salads, cabbage olive oil, lemon juice and S&P. I forgot how satisfying this dish is...but not very pretty

Elie

[hazardnc]

Mjuddarah is the only vegetarian dish my son will eat. My husband, who is of Palestinian decent, grew up eating mjuddarah. In our house, we top it with plenty of browned onions, salt, pepper and yogurt. My favorite topping is a tomato and onion salad with a dressing of olive oil and lemon juice.

My mother-in-law also makes a wonderful, very basic lentil soup with spinach and lemon. It is fabulous.

[bilrus]

This thread prompted me to pull out my recipe, which had been in my recipe binder for too long. I made it last night - paying close attention to the cooking and stirring more frequently (but gently) than I had in the past. This allowed me to avoid the problem I had mentioned earlier about my lentils breaking up.

Unfortunately I didn't have as many lentils as I thought, so it was a little heavy on the rice.

Here is a pic of the final results.

Edited January 6, 2005 by bilrus (log)

[corax]

Here is a pic of the final results.

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elie, bill, thanks for posting pics of your finished products. my mouth is watering just looking at them now! i would be interested to know the recipes each of you used -- how, e.g., they differed from the one suvir posted waaay at the top of this thread. [bill notes in his latest post that he had to improvise on his proportions, but that's natural with such recipes isn't it -- it honors their elastic nature.] i'm wondering how far traditional middle-eastern cooking [as opposed to postmodern fusion cuisines] might tweak this very basic dish. has anyone, for example, heard of traditional levantine cooks using a broth [say chicken broth] to cook the lentils and rice in, rather than plain water?

corax

[bilrus]

I wish I could say mine came from a traditional source of some sort, but it actually came from Cooking Light magazine. Here is the recipe.

The differences I see are using yellow onions rather than red and the step of adding the lentil water to the onions and the addition of clilantro. Also I have never tried the yogurt added at the end.

[FoodMan]

Bilrus- That looks very good.

Corax- Claudio Roden cooks hers in stock instead of plain water and I adapted her recipe for mine. Except I used water since I think the dish should be vegetarian. Also my mom never used stock.

The recipe goes somehting like this:

saute a chopped onion in olive oil till barely starting to color. Add 1/2 cup lentils and toss. Add about 1.75 cups water and cook till the lentils are almost cooked. Add 1 cup (more or less) of bulgur, mix, season, cover the pot and reduce the heat to low. The dish is done when almost all the water is evaporated.

Elie

[corax]

thanks to you both for the receeps. mmmmmmm,jaddarah!

corax

Bilrus- That looks very good.

Corax- Claudio Roden cooks hers in stock instead of plain water and I adapted her recipe for mine. Except I used water since I think the dish should be vegetarian. Also my mom never used stock.

The recipe goes somehting like this:

saute a chopped onion in olive oil till barely starting to color. Add 1/2 cup lentils and toss. Add about 1.75 cups water and cook till the lentils are almost cooked. Add 1 cup (more or less) of bulgur, mix, season, cover the pot and reduce the heat to low. The dish is done when almost all the water is evaporated.

Elie

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[Miriam Kresh]

I brought this up on the "Food Pronounciation Guide" in the General Cooking forum, but think I'll find the answer here. Is it majAHderah, or majaDERah? Majaderah or muhjaderah? Or does pronounciation vary according to where you're from?

I like to know how to say the name of the dish I'm cooking.

TIA,

Miriam

[FoodMan]

I brought this up on the "Food Pronounciation Guide" in the General Cooking forum, but think I'll find the answer here. Is it majAHderah, or majaDERah? Majaderah or muhjaderah? Or does pronounciation vary according to where you're from?

I like to know how to say the name of the dish I'm cooking. 

TIA,

Miriam

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It really depends where you are from and there is no use debating it here. Personally, I pronounce it m'jaderah.

[Miriam Kresh]

It really depends where you are from and there is no use debating it here. Personally, I pronounce it m'jaderah.

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Just a straightforward question, no idea of starting a debate. The word was floating around in my head yesterday as I was cooking the dish...which I hadn't made in a very long time, and was inspired to make again by your excellent class on Lebanese cooking, Elie. Thanks!

Miriam