Egyptianfood: Mujaddara with Egyptian Tomato Sauce

I decided that since it was Ramadan, that I would make something fitting to break my fast with as a kind of acknowledgement. No, I didn't wait until the sun set, but it was still a delicious way to do it. The dish I chose is called mujaddara, and it's a combination of lentils and rice, served with carmelized onions. After looking around on the internet, it's apparently popular to serve an Egyptian-style tomato sauce with it, so I cooked that up to. I've got to say, for something so simple, it was delicious. Arabic home cooking maybe?

Mujaddara

Adapted from egyptianfood.org

7 to 8 tablespoons olive oil

2 medium onions, sliced into rings

1 medium onion, chopped

½ teaspoon ground cinnamon

½ teaspoon ground allspice

1 cup dried green lentils

4 cups water
1 cup Basmati rice
3 teaspoons salt (to taste)

Egyptian Tomato Sauce

In a 12-inch frying pan, sauté onion rings in olive oil until they are soft and caramelized. Set aside.

In medium Dutch oven, fry chopped onion over medium heat in olive oil until soft and brown. Add cinnamon and allspice and let warm for one minute. Add lentils and water and bring to boil. Cover and simmer for 20 minutes. Add rice and salt. Bring back to a boil and reduce heat to lowest simmer. Simmer, covered, for 15 to 20 minutes. Make sure to check rice towards the end of the cooking time to ensure it doesn't burn on the bottom of the pot.

Serve rice and lentils with sauce on top. Garnish with caramelized onions.

Egyptian Tomato Sauce
From Chef Zermane Dit Zermaki on food.com

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 medium onion, finely chopped

5 to 7 cloves garlic, minced finely

2 cups tomato juice

1 teaspoon granulated sugar

1 teaspoon white vinegar
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

To make the sauce, sauté the onion over medium heat until quite brown. Add the garlic and cook shortly, about a minute. Add tomato juice and sugar. Lower the heat and simmer for 15-20 minutes. Add the vinegar and seasonings, and cook an additional 2 to 3 minutes.

The Omnivore's Hundred

There's a little meme that's been circulating the net, that I thought I would participate in. Basically it's a list of different foods, some strange, some not, that everyone should really try in their lifetime. Here's my list:

The Omnivore’s Hundred:

1. Venison
2. Nettle tea
3. Huevos rancheros
4. Steak tartare
5. Crocodile
6. Black pudding
7. Cheese fondue
8. Carp
9. Borscht
10. Baba ghanoush
11. Calamari
12. Pho
13. PB and J sandwich
14. Aloo gobi
15. Hot dog from a street cart
16. Epoisses
17. Black truffle
18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes
19. Steamed pork buns
20. Pistachio ice cream
21. Heirloom tomatoes
22. Fresh wild berries
23. Foie gras
24. Rice and beans
25. Brawn, or head cheese
26. Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper
27. Dulce de leche
28. Oysters
29. Baklava
30. Bagna cauda
31. Wasabi peas
32. Clam chowder in a sourdough bowl
33. Salted lassi
34. Sauerkraut
35. Root beer float
36. Cognac with a fat cigar
37. Clotted cream tea
38. Vodka jelly/Jell-O
39. Gumbo
40. Oxtail
41. Curried goat
42. Whole insects
43. Phaal
44. Goat’s milk
45. Malt whisky from a bottle worth £60/$120 or more
46. Fugu
47. Chicken tikka masala
48. Eel
49. Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut
50. Sea urchin
51. Prickly pear
52. Umeboshi
53. Abalone
54. Paneer
55. McDonald’s Big Mac Meal
56. Spaetzle
57. Dirty gin martini
58. Beer above 8% ABV
59. Poutine
60. Carob chips
61. S’mores
62. Sweetbreads
63. Kaolin
64. Currywurst
65. Durian
66. Frogs’ legs
67. Beignets, churros, elephant ears or funnel cake
68. Haggis
69. Fried plantain
70. Chitterlings, or andouillette
71. Gazpacho
72. Caviar and blini
73. Louche absinthe
74. Gjetost, or brunost
75. Roadkill
76. Baijiu
77. Hostess Fruit Pie
78. Snail
79. Lapsang souchong
80. Bellini
81. Tom yum
82. Eggs Benedict
83. Pocky
84. Tasting menu at a three-Michelin-star restaurant.
85. Kobe beef
86. Hare
87. Goulash
88. Flowers
89. Horse
90. Criollo chocolate
91. Spam
92. Soft shell crab
93. Rose harissa
94. Catfish
95. Mole poblano
96. Bagel and lox
97. Lobster Thermidor
98. Polenta
99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee
100. Snake