I’ll take home lentils in exchange for blueberry muffins anytime!
Suzy and I got together yesterday to cook and bake. We worked side by side, yet one of us was making something savory and the other something sweet. She was determined to recreate her family’s favorite dish, which is called Mujadarrah and is made with lentils and caramelized onions. I was excited since I also love this dish too.
Suzy officially kicked off our weekly “try something new” dinner challenge. But there didn’t seem to be any reason for two of us to be chopping onions or boiling lentils so of course I had to start my own mixing. And I am so glad I did! By the end of our session, I had 50 muffins to show for my efforts, one batch with a crumbly cinnamon topping and the other with just a sprinkling of sugar. Oh, and Suzy’s house smelled irresistible.
At one point, Suzy thought she ruined her dish when she left the onions unattended a bit too long and boiled her lentils just past their ideal cooking time. She was whipping up a delicious Greek yogurt dip during these mishaps. (I guess I could have been helping out instead of making muffins!) The caramelized onions were a bit blackened and the lentils a tad mushy, but the truth is her lentil dish was even better!
That night when I sat down to dinner, mixing brown rice into my lentils and onions and marveling at my kids as they bravely tasted something new, I felt compelled to call Suzy to share my excitement. No text could convey my delight. So we chatted by phone, she telling me how thrilled her kids were with their blueberry muffin after-school snack and I raving about the lentil dish that would soon become a new staple.
I like this new dinner challenge and can’t wait until next week.
The recipe Suzy used was from Food 52.
We decided that next time we’ll dice the onions instead of slicing them since our picky eaters grumbled about the stringy parts. We also thought we’d cook the rice in chicken stock to give it an added dimension of flavor. So, feel free to use our tips if you want and enjoy this delicious dish!