Lebanese Lentils and Rice or Mujadara recipe is a one-pot, one-step dish, that uses the Instant Pot to make this classic comfort dish.
Lentils and Rice Mujadara
Call it Kushari, Mujadara, Khichidi, or Lentils and Rice, but most cultures have some version of these Greek Lentils. I love the Lebanese/Greek version but when I’ve tried it in the past, the lentils and rice cook at different speeds so you end up having to cook them separately, or suffer undercooked lentils or overcooked rice.
I was determined to cook this as a one-pot, one-step dish and use the Instant Pot to do it so I didn’t have to stand and stir while it cooked.
It worked, but I had to make two modifications, which really didn’t affect the taste as much as I feared they would. For one, I used the French Puy lentils rather than the traditional lentils since these cook faster.
Here’s a picture I found that shows you the difference.
Secondly, I had to soak the French lentils, which I don’t typically do with them. But I used a quick soak in hot water, and it really helped.
I also had to undercook the onions a bit as my son won’t eat crisped onions (why, I do not know but whatever). Make yours nice as brown and crisp as you want, and enjoy the flavors.
I think kids find crisped onions to be somewhat bitter so if you’re feeding little ones, you may want to go easy on the crisping, as I did.
So the steps for Greek Lentils and Rice are:
- Soak the lentils in hot water before you get started
- While they’re soaking, brown the onions and wash the rice
- Cook all of it in an Instant Pot.
If you can’t find French lentils where you live, I suggest you soak regular lentils but use brown rice, and adjust the water accordingly. Both regular lentils and brown rice take 20 mins in the Instant Pot so those should work together.
IF YOU LIKE LENTILS AND RICE, CHECK OUT THIS KHIDCHADI LENTILS AND RICE RECIPE!
EQUIPMENT YOU MAY NEED TO MAKE THIS INSTANT POT PRESSURE COOKER MUJADARA RECIPE:
- Instant Pot Mini Duo, or Instant pot 6 quarts, or Instant Pot 8 Quarts
- Measuring Cups
- My favorite Cutting Board
- Good set of Kitchen Knives
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Ingredients
- 1/3 cup (64 g) lentils
- 2 cup (320 g) Onion, sliced
- 2 tablespoons (2 tablespoons) Ghee
- 1 cup (185 g) Basmati Rice, rinsed (do not substitute short grain rice otherwise the water proportions will be off)
- 1/4 teaspoon (0.25 teaspoon) Ground Cumin
- 1/2 teaspoon (0.5 teaspoon) Ground Coriander
- 2 cups (500 g) Water
- Salt, to taste
Instructions
- Soak the lentils in enough hot water to cover them well, and let them soak while you get everything else going.
- Turn on your Instant Pot to Sauté, and when it's hot, add 1 tablespoon of ghee. When the ghee starts to shimmer, add in your thinly sliced onion, sprinkle with a little salt, and sauté for about 5-10 minutes until the onions are crisping around the edges, but not burned. If you have some extra time before dinner needs to be on the table, keep cooking until they are well-browned.
- Remove half the onions to serve as a garnish.
- Place all remaining ingredients into the Instant Pot, stir well, and set it to High Pressure for 6 minutes.
- Allow it to NPR for 10 minutes, and then release remaining pressure. You may still have a little moisture left in the rice. Stir it gently but well, and leave the lid half off and half on the pot. You want it to steam the rice, but you need some of that water to evaporate off as well.
- Let it rest undisturbed for 5-10 minutes. Stirring frequently will break up the delicate rice.
- Uncover and place into your serving dish, and sprinkle with the reserved, browned onions.
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Nutrition
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Edith Goldman
This came out really well, and presoaking the lentils was genius. I made a few minor tweaks: I don’t have ghee so I melted 1tbs butter into 1tbs veg oil, then poured off 1/2 to cook the onions in. I find the sautee setting on the IP doesn’t give me good temperature control so I sauteed the onions on the stovetop and when they were all nice and brown I added them to the IP, which I set to sautee at that point. I added the rest of my oil/butter mixture plus the onions, the rice and lentils and the seasonings, heated it all thru, added the water and started the cooking time. The texture was perfect but the taste was a tad bland; next time I’ll rev up the seasonings a bit. Thank you for this recipe!
Danita
Made this to have for lunch today. It was easy to make and from ingredients I generally have on hand. I had time so browned the onions for about 15 mins. Which saute heat setting do you regularly use on the instant pot? I found the high too hot so I have started using medium most of the time. Also the recipe calls for 2T of ghee but only one is used for sauteing. Is the other 1 T added to the pot with the other ingredients? Thanks for another easy and nutritious recipe.
URVASHI PITRE
I usually ass the other tablespoon to the rice before cooking.
Nigella Bleu
For what I had in the ingredients (not French Lentils, not ghee, not enough fresh onion and older spices) I thought the recipe turned out well. For me it took longer than 40 minutes from start to plate. I will make again and now adjust to my taste and supplies 🙂
Sylvia Hilborn
I have a bag of green lentils that I would like to use for this recipe. They are from Wegman’s and are organic. However, they are not labeled as French or Puy lentils. I don’t know if I should follow your recipe with white basmati rice, or if I should use brown rice. What do you suggest? (If it helps, the bag says they lentils take 30 – 45 minutes to cook on the stove.)
URVASHI PITRE
I replied to this earlier but I don’t see my comment here anymore. I’d asked if you could send me a picture or post a URL here that shows me what your lentils look like so I could make a more educated guess. If it’s not too late, do send over and let’s see what we can do.
Sylvia Hilborn
Oh! I missed your reply last night! Here is a link to the lentils I bought. They are green, but a very mottled green-brown color. https://www.wegmans.com/products/natures-marketplace/grocery/dried-beans/green-lentils.html
Wegman’s also has French Green Lentils, and they look much more green than the lentil sI have. https://www.wegmans.com/products/natures-marketplace/grocery/dried-beans/french-green-lentils.html
URVASHI PITRE
yeah I used the french green lentils since they cook faster. If you’re using the ones in the first URL, I’d try with brown rice instead.
Sylvia Hilborn
Thanks! That is what I will do. I’ll let you know how it turns out. After this, the next on my list is your African Stew – it sounds so yummy!