If you cook it, they will come

April 24, 2012 at 11:14 AM · Filed under Food, Life and tagged: cooked, fast five, living simply, productivity, recipe, vegetarian

If I were to describe the past year of my life in one word, “balanced” would be a poor choice. Wild, unsteady, shifting, would all be better descriptors. That’s why my focus this month—now that we’ve settled into life back on the mainland—has been to find balance. It seems like I have spent the year either lounging on the beach for weeks or endlessly researching, organizing, and planning the complexities of our lives. Even now I am either cooking constantly in a hot kitchen or editing in the dark of my studio for days on end—it’s always extremes.

But I’m done with that. It’s time for a more sustainable daily ritual. Spring is always a great starting point for habitual changes. I am inspired by the trees bursting with green and the buzzing blossoms. Nature has sustainable productivity pretty well figured out.

So now it’s my turn. In the interest of balance, I started charting my days to see where all those hours are really going (I’m on to you, Internet). Interestingly, that process (and the burgeoning beauty outside) gave me the initiative to start jogging again and to re-establish my yoga practice. I have also decided to start a monthly dinner menu to help organize and simplify the meal planning process as well as reduce trips to the grocery store (more on how well this works to come).

The first addition to the menu? Mujadara Monday.

Mujadara [mmm-jshuhd-dah-rah] is a simple, extremely tasty, traditional Lebanese dish. I learned the recipe years ago from my friend, Karim, a former housemate of mine who prepared the dish almost weekly for a houseful of eager, martini-drinking guests.

The moral of the story? If you cook it, they will come. I’m sure the martinis didn’t hurt either.

This recipe will be the first of a series of “Fast Fives”—my favorite, simple recipes with five or fewer ingredients (cooking basics like salt, pepper, and oil excepted).

Mujadara (Lebanese Lentils and Rice):
[vegetarian, gf]

1/3C olive oil
one 5lb bag of yellow onions
3C long grain brown rice
2C green lentils (soaked for 4+ hours)
2t salt
7C water
plain, whole-milk yogurt

Slice onions into strips. Add to large skillet with olive oil on medium heat and saute until caramelized (60-90 minutes), stirring often. While onions are cooking, rinse and strain rice and soaked lentils, separately. Put water, rice, and salt into large saucepan. Bring to a boil and reduce heat to simmer for 15 minutes. Add soaked lentils, bring back to a boil, and simmer for 15 more minutes until water is absorbed. Serve lentils and rice with onions on top with a dollop (or more) of yogurt. Serves 8.

[Soaking beans removes the enzymes that cause gas and makes them more easily digested. If you don't soak the lentils ahead of time, you will need to increase the amount of water and the cooking time for the lentils.]

Give this recipe a try and tell me how you like it!

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