Pumpkin Wedge Mujadara

by Alice Zaslavsky, featured in The Joy of Better Cooking

Published by Murdoch Books

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Introduction

My babushka Raya and I didn’t always see eye to eye. She’d say, ‘Your room should be like a candy’, when it more resembled a wasteland of discarded wrappers, but one thing we both loved was thrifting. In my teens, I’d walk with her to the op-shops down the road, where they’d know her by name, but in my twenties, I’d treat her to a drive down the highway to the biggest op-shop within a 100 km radius: Savers Frankston. Two storeys of second-hand shmatters that we would both enthusiastically trawl for mohair cardigans and plaid skirts. We’d cap off the trip by visiting the teeny Turkish cafe next door, for the jewel in the weekly crown: a tub of mujadara. Sweet with caramelised onion, with chewy lentils and fluffy rice, this was another thing we could both agree on. She’s no longer with us, but those cardigans and skirts still hang in her room, which remains tidy like a candy. My housekeeping skills never improved, by the way…but I make a mean mujadara.

As featured in

The Joy of Better Cooking

Image of Alice Zaslavsky's Pumpkin Wedge Mujadara — Photo by Ben Dearnley

Ingredients

Serves: 4-6

Metric Cups

1 cup puy lentils
2lb 12 ounces japanese pumpkin (cut into 8 wedges, seeds removed)
3 tablespoons olive oil (plus extra for drizzling)
4 large brown onions (halved and thinly sliced)
2 - 3 star anise
½ cup grapeseed oil
½ bunch of kale (stems removed, leaves shredded)
1 cup long grain rice
1 bay leaf
1 garlic clove (peeled and smashed)
¼ cup pumpkin seeds
¼ cup sunflower seeds
½ bunch cilantro leaves (stems finely chopped, leaves reserved)
1 pomegranate
2 tablespoons pomegranate molasses

210 grams puy lentils
1¼ kilograms japanese pumpkin (cut into 8 wedges, seeds removed)
3 tablespoons olive oil (plus extra for drizzling)
4 large brown onions (halved and thinly sliced)
2 - 3 star anise
125 millilitres grapeseed oil
½ bunch of kale (stems removed, leaves shredded)
200 grams long grain rice
1 bay leaf
1 garlic clove (peeled and smashed)
40 grams pumpkin seeds
40 grams sunflower seeds
½ bunch coriander leaves (stems finely chopped, leaves reserved)
1 pomegranate
2 tablespoons pomegranate molasses

Method

Pumpkin Wedge Mujadara is a guest recipe by Alice Zaslavsky so we are not able to answer questions regarding this recipe

Preheat the oven to 200°C (400°F) and line two large roasting tins with baking paper.
Boil a kettle, put the lentils in a bowl and pour in enough water to cover the lentils by 1 cm (½ inch), then leave to languish.
Brush the pumpkin wedges with 2 tablespoons of the oil and sprinkle with salt flakes and pepper. Place standing up in one of the roasting tins and bake for 45 minutes, until golden and soft, turning the tray halfway through cooking.
Meanwhile, put the onion in the other roasting tin with the star anise, grapeseed oil and a sprinkle of salt. Give the onion slices a good massage, then roast for 30 minutes. Once they start to caramelise on the edges, give them a little stir to let the ones underneath come up for hot air. They’re ready once coloured, softened and very sweet.
Using a slotted spoon, scoop the onion out of the roasting tin and set aside. Add the shredded kale to the roasting tin, tossing it through the left-over oil in the pan. Roast for 10–15 minutes.
Meanwhile, drain the lentils in a fine-meshed sieve. Add the rice, rinsing under cold water until the water runs clear. Tip them into your rice cooker, or a medium-sized saucepan with a tight-fitting lid. Add the bay leaf, garlic and 3 cups (750 ml) cold water and stir. If using a rice cooker, walk away and live your life (this is one gadget worth investing in). If using the absorption method in a saucepan, stir the mixture occasionally until the water comes to the boil, turn the heat down, put the lid on and cook for 15 minutes, then turn off the heat and leave to rest for 5 minutes more. Whatever route you took, once cooked, fluff up the rice mixture with a fork, and fish out the bay leaf and garlic.
Heat a dry frying pan until smoking. Add the pepitas and sunflower seeds and toss about for a minute or two, until slightly toasted.
Toss the roasted onion and kale into the rice and lentils with most of the toasted seeds and nuts, chopped coriander stems, and any oil left in the onion baking tin. Taste for seasoning.
Cut the pomegranate in half. Knock the seeds out of one half, add some of them to the rice mixture and toss well. Juice the remaining pomegranate half and mix the juice (and any extra juice from the seeds) with the pomegranate molasses, to make a dressing.
Place the mujadara on a serving platter. Arrange the pumpkin wedges on top. Scatter with the remaining pomegranate seeds and toasted seeds and nuts. Pour the pomegranate dressing over with an extra drizzle of olive oil, garnish with the cilantro leaves and serve.

Preheat the oven to 200°C (400°F) and line two large roasting tins with baking paper.
Boil a kettle, put the lentils in a bowl and pour in enough water to cover the lentils by 1 cm (½ inch), then leave to languish.
Brush the pumpkin wedges with 2 tablespoons of the oil and sprinkle with salt flakes and pepper. Place standing up in one of the roasting tins and bake for 45 minutes, until golden and soft, turning the tray halfway through cooking.
Meanwhile, put the onion in the other roasting tin with the star anise, grapeseed oil and a sprinkle of salt. Give the onion slices a good massage, then roast for 30 minutes. Once they start to caramelise on the edges, give them a little stir to let the ones underneath come up for hot air. They’re ready once coloured, softened and very sweet.
Using a slotted spoon, scoop the onion out of the roasting tin and set aside. Add the shredded kale to the roasting tin, tossing it through the left-over oil in the pan. Roast for 10–15 minutes.
Meanwhile, drain the lentils in a fine-meshed sieve. Add the rice, rinsing under cold water until the water runs clear. Tip them into your rice cooker, or a medium-sized saucepan with a tight-fitting lid. Add the bay leaf, garlic and 3 cups (750 ml) cold water and stir. If using a rice cooker, walk away and live your life (this is one gadget worth investing in). If using the absorption method in a saucepan, stir the mixture occasionally until the water comes to the boil, turn the heat down, put the lid on and cook for 15 minutes, then turn off the heat and leave to rest for 5 minutes more. Whatever route you took, once cooked, fluff up the rice mixture with a fork, and fish out the bay leaf and garlic.
Heat a dry frying pan until smoking. Add the pepitas and sunflower seeds and toss about for a minute or two, until slightly toasted.
Toss the roasted onion and kale into the rice and lentils with most of the toasted seeds and nuts, chopped coriander stems, and any oil left in the onion baking tin. Taste for seasoning.
Cut the pomegranate in half. Knock the seeds out of one half, add some of them to the rice mixture and toss well. Juice the remaining pomegranate half and mix the juice (and any extra juice from the seeds) with the pomegranate molasses, to make a dressing.
Place the mujadara on a serving platter. Arrange the pumpkin wedges on top. Scatter with the remaining pomegranate seeds and toasted seeds and nuts. Pour the pomegranate dressing over with an extra drizzle of olive oil, garnish with the coriander leaves and serve.