Guest recipe: Orange Mjadra with Mush-Lime© salad

My roommate Sam is a fantastic cook. He's Lebanese so his cooking is very Mediterranean, which I love. Many times I've eaten dinner only to have Sam come home and offer me a second dinner. Of course I don't refuse, and I end up feeling very full but very happy. I'm going to miss living with him when I move out in July, but I'm sure we'll have each other over for dinner on a regular basis. 

Below, Sam teaches us how to make two of his signature recipes: Orange Mjadra (lentil and rice stew) and Mush-Lime© salad (a Sam-original, although somehow I doubt he's taken out a copyright for it). Both are extremely delicious.  

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Greetings, salutations. Tonight, I had the most imponderable joy of sharing my dinner once again with my awesome roomie Shaun. The dish that I made is a Lebanese one, and is called ‘Orange Mjadra’. It is a very tasty meal that is often served with cabbage salad, but tonight I resorted to my famous Mush-Lime© salad because it’s simply the best. Sorry for mutilating your recipe, mum.

The recipe is quite simple and on the contrary to Mrs. Trunchball’s school ‘cookie’ in the movie Matilda, no blood or sweat were involved in the making of this meal.

Cut the onions lengthwise or dice them.

Make sure you check your lentils for stones. One way to do this is pour a bit at a time onto a dinner plate and spread them into one layer. Once any stones have been removed, pour the lentils off the plate and into a container. Pour new lentils onto the plate and continue the process until all the lentils have been checked.

Add the lentils and the rice into the caramelized onions. 

Mmmm! They might not be much to look at, but these lentils are delicious.

Nothing like a cool, refreshing salad to go with the hot lentils.

Lime juice makes the perfect salad dressing for this salad.

Ingredients:

Orange Mjadra for 4 people:

-1 big red onion

-1 cup of orange lentils

-½ a cup of rice

-4-5 cups of water

-6 tbsps of extra virgin olive oil

-Mediterranean sea salt

The Mush-Lime© salad:

-One head of Romaine lettuce

-One fat tomato

-One box of mushrooms

-Mint

-Pomegranate seeds

-Half a lime

-4 tbs olive oil

Orange Mjadra:

The main ingredients of today’s quick meal are gentle orange lentils, rice, and onions. 

We shall start by finely chopping dem onions to thin slices and sautéing them in the sultriest oil there is, the Virgin Olive oil. We will toss and flip and turn dem sexy onions until they are caramelized (oh boy do they smell heavenly – slightly sensual whispers with yer roomie are greatly encouraged during the onion-frying process). This is very important… It can greatly affect the final flavour of the meal... Um, I mean the caramelization state of the onions. 

Once cooked, we are going to add the gentle orange lentils to the onions and toss them a bit until well mixed. 

Next, we will add the rice and water as well as a pinch of salt. Reduce the heat to low and let the mixture simmer slowly until it becomes thick. 

Once the mixture has acquired enough thickness, add 2 tbsps of butter (or margarine for my vegans out there). Allow the butter to melt and infuse the dish with unequivocal richness.

Salad:

The Mush-Lime© salad is made by chopping romaine lettuce, tomatoes and mushrooms into a bowl.

Fresh mint leaves and pomegranate seeds are added (num num num num). 

Squeeze half a lime for the dressing… Limes, limes, limes… more limes, please. Finally, add some of that sultry olive oil and a pinch of salt.

Bon appetit!