Sabout Masoor Pulao

You Must have heard about “Mujadara”  a dish popular throughout the Arab world, and is generally made using brown or green lentils and rice, that can be seasoned with cumin and topped with fried onions, it is generally served with yogurt, and salad, The day I cam to know about this dish I really wanted to give it a try, so here’s how I made it, I have improvised the dish according to my own taste of spices, and to my surprise it came out perfect, every one loved it in family.

Ingredients:

2 cups rice (basmati)

1 & half cup brown lentils (sabout masoor)

1 tsp cumin seeds

½ cup oil

1/2 tsp garam masala powder

½ tsp coriander powder

¼ tsp turmeric powder

1 tbsp ginger garlic paste

2 tomatoes thinly chopped

1 bay leaf

2 tsp salt (or more according to taste)

 1 tsp red chili powder

1-2 chopped green chilies

 1 big onion thinly sliced

Method:

1) Soack rice for 20-30 minutes.

2) Put the dal in a pan with 3-4 cups of water and place over medium to medium- high heat, bring it to a boil (uncovered), then partially cover the pan and reduce heat to medium-low and let the dal cook till the dal is almost done. This should take around half an hour. Drain the water and keep aside, (you can reserve the water for later use )

3) Meanwhile heat the oil in a pan, add onions and fry till they become lightly golden brown, then add the ginger garlic paste, tomatoes, turmeric powder, red chili powder, cumin seeds, garam masala and dhania powder, fry till the oil starts to separates and tomatoes are dissolved.

4) Now add 3 cups of water and salt, Let the water boil and taste the salt. You should be able to feel the saltiness. If it feels just right, it means you have too little. Remember that the rice will need some salt too, so let the salt be enough that you can taste it to be a bit more than you would want, but don’t add too much.

5) Once the water starts to boil add the rice and dal (remember to drain the rice first).  Let this cook on high heat for 2-3 minutes, stirring every now and then, reduce the heat to medium and keep cooking covered until the water is almost dried, giving it a stir every now and then to make sure all the rice is cooked evenly and perfectly.

6) Once there is very little water left in the rice, reduce the heat to as low as possible, sprinkle the chopped green chilies and cover the pan by using a tight lid, or take a kitchen towel and place it over the pan then place the lid on top of it. cook on low heat till the water gets absorbed and rice done, for about 10-15 minutes. Serve it with salad and cucumber raita.

For Cucumber Raita:

  

You need : 

2 cucumbers peeled, deseeded and grated

250 grams yogurt (preferably drained slightly)

mint sauce ( i used the one you get in jars )

Salt

Black pepper

 Mix your yogurt with the mint, salt and pepper, add the cucumbers and stir to combine.