Rice and lentils in one pan, which sounds like nothing and is one of the most satisfying things in this whole category. The trick is that the lentils go in first and get a head start, so both finish together.
This is mujaddara, eaten across the Levant for centuries, and it was a store-cupboard dish long before anyone used the phrase: dried lentils, a dry grain, onions and oil. Some versions use coarse bulgur wheat in place of the rice.
Green lentils, not red: red ones collapse and you would end up with a very different dish.
- Rinse the lentils and put them in the pan with about 700 ml of water. Bring to the boil and simmer 15 minutes. They should be nearly tender but still whole.
- Rinse the rice, add it to the same pan with another 300 ml of water and a good pinch of salt. Bring back to the boil, put a lid on, turn the heat as low as it will go and leave for 12 minutes without lifting the lid.
- Off the heat, lid still on, ten minutes to steam.
- While it steams, heat the oil hard in a mug or the corner of another pan. Add the dried onion and stand over it: it goes from pale to golden to burnt in about ninety seconds. Pull it off at deep gold. Add the cumin to the hot oil for the last ten seconds.
- Fork the rice and lentils through, then tip the onion and its oil over the top.
Cook this to the meal. Rice is the one thing in this cupboard you should not keep without a fridge. See the rice page for why reheating does not rescue it. Portion the dry rice to the number of people eating, and there is nothing to decide afterwards.
Serves 4.