Meatless Monday with Vegan Mujaddara

Hello and thanks for joining us for another Meatless Monday. Mirateltook the Meatless Monday pledge which aims to preserve the planet and its inhabitants by eliminating meat one day per week as one of its CSR business initiatives. Each week, we bring a new recipe to help make meal planning meat-free easier.

Tonight for dinner we’re making a delicious Mujaddara. Mujaddara is a traditional Middle Eastern dish that is economical and simple to make but creates a gorgeous dish that is satisfying and nutritious. All the ingredients are pantry items with the exception of the onions which are a staple of the dish and the optional parsley. This recipe comes courtesy of Apron Strings – an amazing blog about all things food. Although not exclusively vegan or vegetarian, they do participate in Meatless Monday and have a good selection of meat-free recipes. All of their recipes are creative yet do-able for the average home cook and I haven’t had one that wasn’t fantastic. Do yourself a favour and check it out.

Mujaddara photo courtesy of apronstringsblog.com

Mujadarra Ingredients – serves 6

• 1 cup brown rice (I like short grain)
• 2 cups green lentils, rinsed and sorted
• 3 large onions, sliced
• 3 tablespoons olive oil, divided (perhaps regular for cooking, and extra-virgin for finishing)
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon salt
• freshly ground black pepper to taste
• 1 cup fresh flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped (optional)

Directions

1. Place the rice in a saucepan with 2 cups of water and a dash of salt. Bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer, cover and cook for 45-50 minutes. In another pot, cover the lentils with 2 inches of water, and bring to a boil – continue boiling for 20-25 minutes. Drain when cooked through and tender but not mushy. At the same time and for about the same duration, we’ll caramelize the onions. Heat one tablespoon olive oil in a large saute pan, add the onions and stir them around, making sure the slices are separated and then coated. Reduce the heat to low and cover, cooking for the same 25 minutes, approximately, making sure to stir occasionally.
2. When all three components are done, toss together with spices, salt, remaining olive oil and parsley. Serves a crowd!
3. The spices involved could also be considered optional, so subtle is the flavor, and I did try it without. The sweetness of the onions gives it plenty of flavour all by themselves. I can honestly recommend either version.

You can add chilies to taste if you prefer a little heat in your food. You can also top it with a dollop of Greek-style yogurt. Serve with a green salad and flatbread.  

We encourage you to visit the Meatless Monday website and join us in taking the pledge to reduce meat consumption one day per week. It’s easy with delicious recipes like this one. Spread the word at work to promote the value of CSR business initiatives and make your green call centre, office, factory, shop, restaurant, hotel or salon even greener.

Enjoy!
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Miratel Solutions is a Toronto call centre, eBusiness, and letter shop mail house specializing in professional fundraising services including telephone fundraising, online fundraising, lottery services, donation caging, donation processing and other donor management services. We are committed to our CSR business values in all contact centre services and mail house operations and advancing the missions of the nonprofits we proudly serve.