Somehow, I heard about Jerusalem: A Cookbook, by Yotam Ottolenghi and Sami Tamimi. The New York Times had an article on the cookbook in July, discussing how popular the cookbook had been this year. I put my name on the "hold" list at the library and waited, and waited. I finally got it last week. It is a large, beautiful, cookbook with lots of recipes that look really good, and if the one dish that I did cook is any indication, they taste wonderful. But most of the recipes include meat or other animal products, so I won't be cooking them before the book goes back to the library. There are still 18 people in the "hold" list, so it will go back soon.
The one dish that I have cooked is Mejadra, which is something that we ate at Jerusalem Gardens in Ann Arbor, Michigan, on our last trip. It is a simple dish -- basically lentils, rice, and fried or caramelized onions, plus spices. The first time, I followed the recipe as closely as possible. It called for partially cooking the lentils, then adding them to the uncooked rice and spices and cooking the rice and lentils together. The onions were thinly sliced, 3 tablespoons of all-purpose flour were sprinkled over them and tossed, then fried in batches in 1 cup of oil. The onions came out very crispy. When the lentils and rice were done, half of the onions were mixed in and half were sprinkled on top.
I liked the dish, but I really wanted to minimize the oil in the mejadra. So I omitted the oil from the rice and spice mixture, and caramelized the onions in 1 tablespoon of olive oil instead. The result is still a tasty dish. I also cooked the lentils and rice completely separately, as I wanted to use brown basmati rice and I had had some trouble getting the rice cooked properly once the lentils were added.
Here's what I did.
I completely cooked 1 1/4 cups brown lentils (green lentils could also be used) in lots of water, then drained them.
Meanwhile, I toasted 2 teaspoons cumin seeds and 1 1/2 tablespoons coriander seeds in the dry pot in which I planned to cook the rice, then added 1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric, 1 1/2 teaspoon ground allspice, 1 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon, and lots of freshly ground black pepper. I measured all these spices in a little bowl so I could just toss them in the pot once the seeds were toasted, then I quickly added 1 cup brown basmati rice and stirred to coat with the spices. The cooking instructions I have for brown basmati rice call for rinsing it, then soaking for 1/2 hour, then cooking in 1 1/2 cups water, so I followed those instructions.
Meanwhile, I sliced 1 1/2 pounds of onions very thinly, broke the slices into rings, and fried gently in a nonstick skillet with 1 tablespoon of olive oil until they became very brown.
When the lentils, rice, and onions were all done, I mixed them all together in the large skillet. The result was a delicious -- but very, very brown -- dish. The coriander seeds and the onions really make the mejadra. I ate it plain, but I also used it as a base for some cooked vegetables. Either way, it is great.
No comments:
Post a Comment