Recipe - Moujendra
Lentils, rice, yoghurt - a middle eastern staple
Episode 12 with Fanoulla Toulou is incredibly bean heavy. There’s a lot of talk a lot about beans and pulses and how good they are for you! However, Fanoulla and I also both remember how mortified we both were as children when some of these classic Cypriot bean dishes, like this moujendra recipe, turned up in our pack lunches! Happily, both of us have reconnected to many of our parents' Greek Cypriot dishes and moujendra has to be one of my favourites. It’s cheap, quick and very easy to tart up, the three pillars of what makes a good recipe for one!
Time: 30 minutes + 2 hours soaking time for lentils
Makes: Enough for one plate and one person.
Ingredients:
1/4 small red onion, finely chopped
a dollop of garlic paste or a finely chopped garlic clove
2 tsp cumin
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ground coriander
a crushed up bay leaf
S&P to taste
30 g lentils
70 g rice (I use long grain, basmati is also fine)
a dollop of greek yoghurt or tzatziki
Directions
1. If you have time, rinse and soak lentils in water for a couple of hours. If not, rinse them a couple of times in a collinder, then boil until they are soft. Sometimes, when I know the lentils are about 20 minutes away from being done, I will add rice and boil both lentils and rice together, to save on washing up!
2. Boil rice.
3. Whilst lentils and rice are cooking, chop up a red onion and fry in spices until slightly brown and soft.
4. When rice and lentils are done, add them to the pan of onions and spices and mix well.
5. Serve with a dollop of yoghurt or tzatziki.