Quick and Easy Lebanese Cooking: Lentil Rice (Mujadarah) and Lebanese Coleslaw

Come and say hello while I demonstrate two very straightforward and inexpensive Lebanese recipes with ingredients you no doubt already have! Mujadarah is a simple lentils and rice dish usually topped with fried onions. I call the cabbage salad Lebanese coleslaw because it is very much like coleslaw, but the flavor is a lot brighter and fresher, and I regularly make it with leftover cabbage and serve it with barbecue or burgers as well as in Middle Eastern spreads!

NOTE: Some advance prep is required to dry mint at home, if desired.

INGREDIENTS

MUJADARAH: ONIONS
2 large onions (24 oz), cut into large slices
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil, Lebanese, Palestinian, or otherwise well-flavored and buttery-grassy, is ideal (e.g.: California Olive Ranch 100% California, Texas Olive Ranch, O-Live, Lucini)
2-3 tsp Aleppo pepper
1 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp kosher salt

MUJADARAH: RICE AND LENTILS
5 ¼ cups water
4 cloves garlic, peeled and halved
4 bay leaves, whole
2 ½ tsp ground cumin
½ tsp ground allspice
1 tsp kosher salt
1 cup brown lentils
1 cup basmati (long-grain/Indian style rice)

CABBAGE SALAD
1 lb green cabbage, shredded in a food processor
3 medium cloves garlic, pounded in a mortar and pestle with 1 tsp kosher salt
1 tsp kosher salt
3 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil, Lebanese or Palestinian preferred (can use any grassy or bitter-flavored EVOO)
Juice of 1 lemon, about 2-3 tbsp (to taste)
2 tbsp fresh mint, or 2 tsp home-dried mint (to make in advance, take fresh mint and strip the leaves off the stalk, then leave out to dry until crumbly and brittle, 1-3 days)