Mujaddara is a traditional Levantine dish widely enjoyed in Lebanon, Syria, Palestine, and Jordan. Dating back centuries, it’s a humble yet deeply satisfying combination of rice, lentils, and deeply caramelized onions, gently seasoned with warm spices like cumin.
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There are many regional and family variations of this dish. After making it countless times in my own kitchen, this is the version I’ve come to love most.

I use brown rice and brown lentils, seasoned with cumin, coriander, cinnamon, and garlic. I fold in plenty of caramelized onions and a handful of raisins for subtle sweetness. To serve, I top the dish with vegan yogurt, crispy fried onions, freshly chopped mint and parsley, and a sprinkle of chili flakes for a bit of heat.

Mujaddara is a humble dish, yet tastes rich and decadent from the spices and caramelized onions. It's naturally plant based, high in protein and inexpensive to prepare. 

1. Start by caramelizing the onions. In a large pan over medium heat, add ¼ cup extra virgin olive oil. Add onions and season with salt and pepper. If you want, adding a 1/4 cup of water helps move the process along a bit faster.

3. In a larger pot, heat the remaining 2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil over medium heat. Add the garlic and cook for a couple of minutes until fragrant. Stir in the dry spices and toast for another minute or two. Stir rice into the spices and garlic to toast for one minute. 

4. Season with a pinch of salt and pepper. Add water and cook according to package directions. Add raisins or chopped dates. Cover and cook rice according to package directions. My brown rice takes 20 minutes.

5. When the rice is almost done, remove the lid and gently spoon the lentils and caramelized onions over the top. Cover again and let everything steam together for the final 5 minutes to heat through.

6. Stir everything together and taste. Season with Salt and Pepper if needed. 

7. Divide Mujaddara between four bowls, or pile it all onto a single serving platter. Top with Crispy Fried Onions, Fresh chopped Mint, Parsley. Serve with Yogurt.

Toss thinly sliced onions (any variety, red works beautifully) in a light coating of cornstarch, plus a pinch of salt and pepper. Fry at 300–350°F until lightly golden and crisp. A home deep fryer is easiest and safest, but a large, heavy pot works if you’re careful.  The oil will foam more than expected. I use a very deep stock pot with only a couple inches of oil in the bottom. Always use a thermometer and adjust heat as needed. If deep frying feels intimidating, you can skip it, use an air fryer, or buy pre-made crispy onions; the texture won’t be quite the same but will still add lovely crunch. Safety first: hot oil deserves respect. I don't want anyone starting kitchen fires!

2. While the onions are cooking, bring a small pot of salted water to a boil and add the lentils. Reduce to a strong simmer and cook for about 20 minutes. You’re looking for tender lentils with some texture, not mushy.

Espinacas Con Garbanzo is a common tapas dish in some areas of Spain. The way it is prepared will undoubtedly vary depending on the region, and then it will vary even just depending who is cooking! (every family might do things differently, no different than anywhere else in the world.)

I made my Spinach with Chickpeas simply, with onion, garlic, smoked paprika, and olive oil. I was serving it with Calçots Con Romesco (Grilled Scallions with Romesco), Crusty Bread, and Extra Romesco Sauce on the side. (these 3 posts are meant to be read together for full effect) The romesco has lots of tomato and red pepper flavours, with acidity from sherry vinegar, so I didn't feel the need to add any of these nuances to this recipe. If you weren't serving it with Romesco, you could add a squeeze of lemon or splash of sherry vinegar if you'd like, though even though I have a strong affinity for the perfect balance of acidity in a dish, there's something about just squidgy olive oil coated things seasoned well with salt and pepper. I think I always want crusty bread grilled with olive oil when I'm eating this. Especially with the other tapas dishes I made. Piling all the deliciousness onto bread is perfection! 

​Don't make this recipe if you plan on skimping on the amount of olive oil. It's basically the sauce, and I'm really generous with it. I want every bite to be lusciously coated or it will just taste dry. 

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I'm drinking Teeccino herbal coffee as I write this post.  If you purchase through my page (by clicking image below to follow link) I make a small commission on that purchase. The goal of course for me is to try and find ways to support my creative work so that I can do, and share, more.  I want to share and promote products I actually love and use, and this is one of my favourites out there. (I haven't tried the vanilla nut pictured below)...I'm currently obsessed with their Herbal Mushroom Teas, and Cordyceps Cinnamon Berry & Macadamia Nut Herbal coffees. Delicious. 

I first had this dish in a Spanish Tapas Restaurant in Orlando, Florida. It was many years ago, so I can't recall much other than I really enjoyed it...enough to store it as one of my manyyyy food memories. Calçots are a variety of onion and a delicacy in Spain. They are similar to the scallions we get here in North America, so that is what I used. For this dish, you drizzle them with a bit of olive oil and grill them, ideally until there are some blackened/charred bits happening. Then you simply serve them with a swirl of romesco sauce. A garnish of more chopped toasted almonds is nice too. Not only are they delicious, they are really fun to eat, just use your hands and drag the scallions through the romesco. Pile them onto olive oil grilled bread... DELICIOUS. (bonus if you have some char on the bread too...something about the combination of char and romesco is heaven.)

Calçots con Romesco is a common tapas dish in Spain, so it's nice served with other bites on the table to make up a larger spread. I made a simple meal out of this dish, crusty bread grilled with olive oil, and Espinacas con Garbanzo (Spinach with Chickpeas, another common tapas dish in Spain of which I will share and link below soon). I really recommend giving this dish a try, it's simple but incredibly delicious, and also a fun way to eat especially with friends.

Romesco is a classic sauce originating from Catalonia, Spain. It is typically made from roasted tomatoes and garlic, toasted almonds, or hazelnuts, olive oil, and nyora peppers. Day old bread toasted in olive oil is used to thicken the sauce. This version uses almonds, roasted red peppers (from a jar to keep it simple) and smoked paprika. The sauce comes together quickly in a food processor. I like to eat Romesco with grilled vegetables, potatoes, crusty bread, or as a sandwich spread. I think the recipe is a bit forgiving. If you have more tomatoes and less peppers, you could make it work. Really it's just about balancing the flavours. A bit of acidity, seasoned with salt and pepper, a bit of smoked paprika and bread as needed to thicken. I always take a taste and adjust these things until it seems balanced.

I made this sauce and then prepared the following things for a simple tasty meal (pictured/linked below.)

• "Calcots con Romesco" (Grilled Spring Onions with Romesco) 
•  "Espinacas Con Garbanzo" (Spinach with Chickpeas)
• Olive Oil Grilled Crusty Bread. 

All the bites piled onto the bread with extra Romesco along side was delicious.

Yield: about 3 cups

Ingredients:

• 500 ml jar roasted red peppers, discard liquid (there was about 2 1/2 whole peppers in my jar)
• 1 whole tomato 
• 1/2 cup toasted almonds
• 1/2 cup Fruity Good Quality Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• 6 cloves garlic (I'll probably add more next time)
• 5 slices white baguette (or as needed)
• 2 tsp smoked paprika
• 5 tbsp sherry vinegar 
• 1 tsp red wine vinegar (I added this because I'm always trying to balance flavours at the end...I used to make Romesco exclusively with red wine vinegar...it adds something I like..)
• 3/4 tsp sea salt
• 1/2 tsp black pepper
• 1/8th tsp cayenne (or more to taste)

Method:

1. The first step is to roast the tomato, garlic and bread in a bit of olive oil. I decided to do this in a pan to keep things simple. Smash garlic cloves with flat side of your knice, (remove peel), slice tomato in half, & slice thick pieces of baguette.
2. Add olive oil to a pan over medium heat and toss everything in, season with S & P, turning as needed until everything has a bit of colour. 
3. Then in a food processor, blitz roasted red peppers, almonds, tomato, garlic and bread until  combined into a coarse mixture. Now drizzle in olive oil, vinegar and season with salt, pepper & cayenne. If mixture seems really thin add another slice of bread. 

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 Recipe Difficulty: Easy

Recipe Tags:

• Red Wine Braised Lentils
• Mushrooms
• Mashed Potatoes
• Vegan Stew
• Comfort Food
• Easy Vegan Recipes
• Vegan Holiday Recipes

Red Wine Braised Lentils Recipe Notes

These Red wine braised lentils are like a warm hug. Perfect healthy comfort food for the cooler months. There is so much richness and depth happening for a simple pot of lentils.  Lentils and Mushrooms are simmered with mirepoix, lots of garlic, red wine, rosemary, smoked paprika, a few other ingredients for complexity and finished with green peas and a touch of vegan butter. I really like the addition of peas but if that isn't your thing you can leave them out. I use brown or green lentils, whatever I happen to have on hand works. 

This dish is delicious if you just take a taste out of the pot, but I don't find the flavour profile complete until it is served with rich mashed potatoes. That's when the magic really happens. So I guess I'm saying, don't skip that part, and this isn't the time to avoid a bit of added fat from vegan butter and sour cream in your taters either. (I don't think of fat as a bad thing anyhow. I might not want to eat rich things like this every single day, but when you are literally eating a whole food plant-based diet every single day with very little added sugar, lots of fruits and vegetables, whole grains, nuts and seeds, adding some fat once in a while is no big deal, it isn't the enemy. I used to say, make sure to keep the lentils al dente, but honestly, by the third day I was reheating it, the peas lost their bright green hue, the lentils had softened a bit...and it was delicious. So, like most soups and stews, I think this gets better with a bit of time. 

I definitely can see myself playing around with the recipe. Maybe sometime make something similar with more mushrooms and less lentils but flavoured the same way. I can't see it being bad with other herbs, I like rosemary in this context, but fresh thyme would undoubtedly be good too. 

Don't skip the Mashed Potatoes
I boiled yellow potatoes in salted water, strained, and then mashed them with vegan butter, minced garlic, chopped scallions and s&p. The amount of potatoes you would need for this whole recipe probably depends on the person. Just for reference, into 2 lbs 13 oz of potatoes (almost 3 lbs) I mashed in 1/2 cup melt organic vegan butter, 3 cloves minced garlic, and two chopped scallions. Season with s&p to taste. You'd probably need more than that for all the stew.  A 5 lb bag of potatoes would likely do the trick. The garlic and onion adds a lot to the finished dish in my opinion so I personally wouldn't leave it out.  

Garnish with fresh chopped parsley. Serve with different sides of vegetables. I made a grated carrot salad with raisins and pecans, and I also roasted green beans with olive oil, S&P. 

Red Wine Braised Lentils Recipe

Serves 6-8

Ingredients:

• Olive Oil 
• 4 cups sliced mushrooms
• 2 large spanish onions, diced
• 2 carrots, diced (less if they are ginormous) 
• 2 stalks of celery, diced
• 12 cloves of garlic, chopped
• 1 tsp smoked paprika 
• 6 tbsp tomato paste
• 2 cups dried lentils (green or brown)
• 1 cup dry red wine
• 8 cups veg stock
• 2 tsp minced rosemary
• 2 -4 tbsp maple syrup (to taste)
• 2 tbsp vegan butter
• 2 tsp soy sauce 
• a small splash of good quality balsamic vinegar 
• 1 cup frozen peas 
• s & p

Method:

1. In a cast iron pan, heat a bit of extra virgin olive oil. When the pan is hot, add mushrooms. Cook until golden brown. Set aside.
2. In a pot heat a swirl of olive oil over medium heat. Sweat onion, carrot & celery until softened. Add garlic and cook 3 more minutes, stirring occasionally. Season with S & P
3. Add tomato paste & smoked paprika. Cook while stirring for 1 minute.
4. Add red wine and browned mushrooms. Cook until wine is reduced.
5. Now add dried lentils, veg stock rosemary and season with more S & P
6. Simmer until lentils are cooked and liquid is reduced and thickened. (Lentils should be soft but still have some texture)
7. Now I taste and add maple, soy sauce, balsamic.  It's really just personal preference and trying to create a bit of balance and complexity by adding a small amount of these ingredients. Start with less and add a bit more if you like it.
8. Add vegan butter & frozen peas. Simmer awhile longer. 
9. Serve over buttery mashed potatoes. Garnish with fresh parsley, and more minced rosemary if desired.