Mujadara With Cucumber Laban

Day 1 of BM 56 - 

We, the BM group, are kick starting yet another Mega Marathon where we would blog all through the month barring Sundays. Each week we will all showcase recipes under a different category.

This first week is all about Combo Dishes across the world. We are aware of so many typical combos in our own cuisine, right? Like Pulao-Raita, Puri-Sagu etc..So let us explore the world to dish out more combos..

For Day 1, we travel down to Lebanon and get a taste of their ever popular Mujadara which is often served with a yogurt based condiment. I have chosen Cucumber Laban. 

I found that Mujadara is a very forgiving yet simple and comforting lentil based dish, very similar to our own Ven Pongal. In many versions, I have observed the usage of rice and lentils but I found this version where they use Bulghur instead of rice and that is what I used too.

Recipe Source here and here
Ingredients - 
For Mujadara - 
Whole Red Lentils 1/4 cup
Bulghur/Bulgur/Burghul 1/4 cup
Salt as needed
Turmeric 1/4 tsp
Crushed Black Pepper 1/4 tsp
Onions, chopped 1/2 cup
Olive Oil 2 Tbsp
For Cucumber Laban - 
Yogurt 1 cup
Cucumbers, finely chopped 3/4 cup
Salt and Pepper to taste
Dried Mint 1/4 tsp
Garlic Powder 1/4 tsp

Method Of Preparation -


For Mujadara - 
Wash the red lentils and Bulghur and pressure cook them together with about 1.5 cups of water adding salt, pepper and turmeric. I cooked it for about 15-18 minutes (or 2 hisses)

In a heated pan, add oil and fry the onions until they are caramelize (turn brown in color).

After the pressure is released from the cooker, mix the Mujadara and mix half of the caramelized onions into it reserving the other half for garnish!

For Cucumber Laban - 
In a bowl, add yogurt, chopped cucumber, salt, pepper, garlic powder and dried mint. Mix and serve it along with Mujadara for a filling meal.

Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM# 56

An InLinkz Link-up

Preparation Time 25-30 min
Serves 2