VIBES: Sheila E “A Love Bizarre”

This is a new weekly staple at our house. Im so into easy recipes with minimal ingredients. I pretty much always have lentils, brown rice and onions on hand and that’s the basis here. You could serve this as a side dish or a main course. I like to serve it with a quick pickled cucumber salad. It would be nice with a spiced roasted chicken and some sautéed greens, but I’m perfectly happy with a bowl of this on its own.

Adapted from Bon Appetit

INGREDIENTS:

4 cups water

1 cube knorrs vegetable bullion

1 cup french green or brown lentils / rinsed

1 bay leaf

kosher salt/ fresh ground pepper

2 tbsp olive oil

4 large purple onions, thinly sliced

1 1/2 tsp cumin seeds

1 cup chopped cilantro (or parsley or mint)

lemon wedges for serving

Bring water and bullion cube to a boil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. You can also use chicken or vegetable stock. Add rice, lentils, and bay leaf and return to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer until rice and lentils are tender, 35–45 minutes. Remove pan from heat and let sit 5–10 minutes (there should still be some broth remaining). Discard bay leaf and season with salt and pepper. Set rice mixture aside.

Heat oil in a medium skillet over medium heat. Add onions and cumin seeds and toss to coat. Cook, stirring often and adding water to pan as needed to prevent burning, until onions are golden brown and soft, 20–25 minutes.

Mix half of onion mixture and half of herbs into rice mixture; season with salt and pepper. Top mujadarra remaining onion mixture, and remaining herbs, and serve with lemon wedges for squeezing over.