MoFo 2013 - Day 13 - L is for Lentils, Lebanese if You Please

If Popeye were smart, he would have eaten his spinach with lentils. Why? Because these little guys pack an additional wallop of iron. There is 37% of the RDA of iron in one cup of cooked lentils. They keep your pipes clean too with lots of fiber. They are a fantastic source of low fat protein, 18 grams per 1 cup serving.

Not only are these little guys full of all sorts of good stuff for your body, they are relatively inexpensive. Add to that the fact that they are very versatile and cook up waaaay quicker than dried beans and you have an arsenal of reasons to love them.

This fine day I decided to make a one dish meal out of them inspired by Aarti Sequeira's Lebanese Lentils, Rice and Caramelized Onions (Mujadara). I change it up slightly by adding an extra cup of water and using brown basmati rice. I had to up the cooking time about 10 more minutes for the brown rice. It didn't have enough heat for my taste, so I added a teaspoon of hot chile powder. The downside to this dish is that it has A LOT of oil. I am sure you could cut back to half and it would still be yummy. I love the caramelized onion garnish! The picture isn't super colorful, but what it lacks in good looks, it makes up in taste. I'm going to throw some chopped spinach in for a one dish meal for lunch!