Those are caramelized onions. A lot of what passes for caramelized onions are just fried onions with sugar added to quicken the darkening or balsamic added for a fake brown hue. Real caramelized onions take time to turn brown, as their natural sugars are drawn out and they gradually go from white to tawny to this deep gold.
Caramelized onions are the heart of mujadarrah, an ultra simple Middle Eastern dish I first read about in Deborah Madison’s Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone. I had just moved in with Dan and we were going through an adjustment period of synchronizing our nightly meal. My sister had this cookbook and I flipped absently through it, until my eyes fell on this recipe.
In her note, Deborah writes, “Although you can cook the onions in a scant amount of oil, it’s the oil that makes this otherwise humble dish so very good.” I grabbed a post-in note and jotted the ingredients down, and I cooked it that very night. For years it was in our weekly rotation but fell out at some point, as so many dishes do.
Deborah calls for one large onion, but I use two. Probably because her recipe calls for a shorter cooking time than mine and therefore the onions reduce much less. I quarter the onions, slice them thin, and put them in my cast iron skillet along with 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons olive oil, as above. I cook them over low heat for about 90 minutes until they look like this:
When there is about a half hour to go, I cover 1 1/4 cups lentils with 4 cups water, bring it to a boil, reduce it to a simmer, and cover to cook for 15 minutes. Then I add 3/4 cups long grain rice, 1 teaspoon of salt, and re-cover for another 15, until the rice is tender and the water is absorbed.
Then I just stir in the pile of caramelized onions and its oniony pool of olive oil. Tonight I made a little something extra: Greek yogurt with a bit of tahini mixed in. It made a nice accompaniment.
It was a delicious little memory-lane meal for us. (I should mention is serves at least 4 and costs next to nothing to make.) I said to Dan that we’d probably be healthier if we ate at home more often because we’d eat more of this type of meal. Thanks to South Philly Fashonista who responded to my request on Twitter for vegetarian recipes with a version of her own.
Lest you think this supper was kind of spare, never fear, we had this sour cream coffee cake, the test batch for a recipe I’m developing, for dessert:
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Looks great, I never know how to cook lentils. Can you post the coffee cake recipe?
carosail–nope, the coffee cake is a recipe I developed for publication elsewhere. Bummer though, because it was good, but also possibly for the best because I ate too much of it! You wouldn’t want that to happen in your kitchen.
This looks so perfect and restorative. Reminds me I have a bag of lentils in the pantry that I should be using up. Of course, just AFTER I finished the 10-pound bag of onions I bought…
Yum, caramelized onions jazz up any dish. It really helps to bring out their sweetness. Plus, lentils are always a great staple for any meal!
i wish i were dan!!!!!!
I’ve been meaning to make this forever, but I never seem to get around to it. Major snowstorm = perfect time!
How gorgeous! Haven’t had this in a couple years and I must rectify this!
Making this for dinner tonight! Lentils are one of my favorites and I’m always excited for a new (to me) take on them.
Looking at your pictures makes me want to cook up another batch!
I made this for dinner– I confess to being a little impatient and burning the onions a la South Philly Fashionista’s recipe, rather than doing the slow caramelization that you wrote about. It’s delicious, and definitely will be a keeper in our rotation as well. Thanks for sharing Deborah Madison’s recipe here.
Yeah, I’ve done that too. It still tastes good when the onions are a little burnt. I’m so glad you liked it. It is a good one!