[Instant Pot] Mujadara *vegan*
This is a vegan Lebanese dish of spiced lentils, though Egypt has a similar dish (different spice profile, natch). If you have lentils, onion, garlic, rice, and some olive (or other high temp) oil kicking around and you want a quick and filling meal, this is a good dish to try.
You will need two mixing bowls, a knife, a big stirring spoon, and a cutting board as well as the Instant Pot. Also, if you want, a third mixing bowl and a strainer that fits within it so that you can freeze up some vegetable stock.
Ingredients
- 1 cup lentils; "red" or "split" not recommended
- 2 TBSP olive oil [substitute any other kind of oil]
- 1 onion, cut into thin rainbows
- 4 cloves garlic, rough chopped
- 2 tsp cumin, ground or whole
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon, ground
- 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper or chili powder, to taste
- 1/2 tsp turmeric, to taste
- 1/4 tsp ginger, ground, to taste
- 1 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 small lemon's worth of citrus zest [substitute 1 TBSP lemon juice]
- 5 cups water: 3 cold and 2 boiling
- 1 cup rice
Ingredient notes: I used cheap lentils labeled just "lentils" and grapefruit zest the first time making this dish and it turned out to be delicious so this dish is very forgiving.
First things First: The Prep-work
By now, you know me. I'm as lazy as they come. If I can save myself some time by being efficient, I'm going to do it. And there are efficiency saves here!
- Put the kettle on and boil the water (2 c).
- While you are boiling the water, skin your onion (1), chop it in half from top to bottom, and then cut those halves into thin rainbows (or smiles, if you'd rather).
- Peel your garlic (4 cloves) (you can use the smash it with the flat of your knife trick here) and rough chop the cloves. By now your water should be boiling.
- Get out a mixing bowl with capacity for at least a whole grapefruit/3 cups. Put the dry lentils (1 c) into that bowl. Pour your boiling water (2 c, boiling) over them and set it aside.
- Get the next larger mixing bowl in your set and use it to wash your rice (1 c). Drain the rice as much as possible but keep it in the bowl.
- To that bowl with the washed rice (1 c), add your cold water (3 c, cold). To this, add the spices: cumin (2 tsp), cinnamon (1/2 tsp), cayenne pepper or chili powder (1/4 tsp, to taste), turmeric (1/2 tsp, optional), ginger (1/4 tsp, optional), salt (1 1/2 tsp), and citrus zest (1 small lemon's worth).
I know it seems like we did a lot, but the rest will go super smoothly because we did. On to the Instant Pot!
Second things Second: Sautéing
Put your oil (2 TBSP) into your Instant Pot's inner pot and leave the lid off. Press the SAUTE button!
When the oil is hot, add your onion rainbows, and set a timer for 4 minutes. For these 4 minutes you are going to keep the onions stirring around and around and around and around. Get your arm workout! You've earned it!
**BRING**
The timer has gone off! Don't cut the heat, just use your stirring spoon and remove half of the somewhat-caramelized onions from the Instant Pot. To save on dirty dishes, I stored them on the cutting board they were cut on. You'll need them at the end of this dish, but they don't get cooked further.
Now, add the garlic (4 cloves, chopped) to the Instant Pot and set a new timer for 2 minutes. Again, stir round and round and round and round and round and ...
**BRING**
Press the CANCEL button on the Instant Pot and then quick as a rabbit noticing a hungry dog, pour your cold water bowl of rice and spices into the Instant Pot to stop the cooking.
Third things Third: The Lid Goes On
Now take the soaked lentils and drain them. If you want, and I wanted because I am all about /r/NoScrapLeftBehind, drain them into a larger mixing bowl to reserve the liquid which you can then toss in your freezer with a label of "vegetable stock/broth". (There's a reason I had you use exactly 2 cups of water for this and that is because most recipes that call for vegetable stock or vegetable broth also call for it in multiples of 2 cups. Future You, you're welcome!)
With this, put on the lid and set the knob to SEALED.
Press the PRESSURE COOK button and adjust the time to 11 minutes. We are going to let this naturally release, so grab a book or an hour long television show and relax.
Total time to ignore your Instant Pot at this stage: 45+ minutes.
Fourth things Fourth: Serving
The pin has dropped (if you've been natural releasing for over 15 minutes, you can then do a manual release if you are impatient) and you're hungry. Grab a bowl and spoon up some delicious goodness. Garnish with those onions we set aside in the beginning. Yum!
As with all my other recipes, I pull a little from column A and a little from column B of recipes other people have tested and used and put them together into one that is foolproof at my altitude and with my most frugal grocery store's offerings (we are balling on a budget!). If you don't have an Instant Pot, you're in luck! This dish is traditionally made without a pressure cooker. For stovetop, I recommend checking out this fantastic recipe from the source I trust whenever I want to eat but don't want to eat anything I know how to cook: Connoisseurus Veg. (I used it for the mandatory spices in the spice profile.) If you want different spices than what I offer, check out this Instant Pot recipe from Feasting at Home, they offer allspice and other things I find yucky (such as coriander). They also give suggestions on what to serve this dish with, aside from "a bowl".