Since I made hummus for our last class meeting, I thought it relevant to share my recipe. But don't tell anyone--it's secret!

1 can garbanzo beans
4 tablespoons tahini
1/2 cup lemon juice
1 teaspoon garlic salt

Throw it all in a food processor and mash it up! Add water if needed for consistency. Add lemon juice or garlic salt by taste.

That's allllll folks! Easy as pie (or hummus;)

Joslyn

This is *my* recipe for mujadderah, which means it's neither the only nor the best.

Start by soaking a package of lentils (I think it's 8 oz) in a 2 quart sauce pan. You should start soaking about two or three hours before the rest of it.

Fast forward to hours later. Rinse the pot of lentils and refill it with fresh water. There should be about two inches of water above the lentils, so they're resting nicely at the bottom. You want to keep the water level about an inch or two above the lentils until you throw in the rice. Set that on a high flame to get the water hot and gradually reduce the heat until it's simmering. Pour in liberal amounts of olive oil and salt and pepper to taste (probably about a quarter cup of salt).

Start a sauce pan or small pot going at low heat with about half a cup of olive oil in it. Once it's warm, but before it starts smoking or you can smell the oil, toss in two chopped onions, preferably those Mayan Sweet Yellow ones that are kind of waxy and squaty.

Once the onions start to wilt and soften, sprinkle about a tablespoon of cinammon in and stir thoroughly. (Cinammon is great for blood pressure and cholesterol.)

Once the onions have thoroughly sautéed, toss them in with the lentils and adjust the heat to keep the pot simmering. After about forty minutes to an hour, throw in about three handfuls of long grain rice and keep adding water as above--so that it covers the goodies by about an inch now.

Throw a lid on it and let it simmer. Stir frequently to check that the rice is cooking and the it's not burning on the bottom. Keep adding olive oil and cinnamon until you think you've ruined it. If the rice is too hard, keep adding about a quarter cup of water and stirring it in to make sure the mixture stays soupy. Once the rice is soft enough to eat, let the extra water simmer out.

I forgot to bring plain yogurt to class, which is my prefered topping for mujadderah. Some of you have probably had a family recipe with fried onions on it. If you can get that recipe, I'd love to have it.