Muaddas

Yumma.← Kuwait
🇰🇼 Kuwait

Muaddas

معدس  ·  muʿaddas

Kuwait’s rice-and-lentils — the Gulf cousin of mujaddara, simmered with a tomato-pepper base and traditionally served beside fried fish.

Serves 6

Photo to come

Ingredients

  • 2 cups basmati rice, soaked
  • 2 cups yellow (or red) lentils, soaked
  • 1 onion, finely chopped · 2 cloves garlic, minced · ¼ cup oil
  • 2 tomatoes, chopped · 1 tbsp tomato paste · 2 bell peppers, chopped
  • 2 tsp each: salt, black pepper, dried coriander, cumin
  • 2 tsp hot paprika · 1 cup chicken stock

Method

  1. Soak the rice and lentils separately about 30 minutes; drain.
  2. Sweat the onion in the oil, then the garlic and all the ground spices.
  3. Add the peppers, tomato paste and tomatoes; cover 5 minutes into a thick base.
  4. Stir in the rice and lentils and coat well.
  5. Add the stock and enough hot water to just cover; boil, then cover on low until tender.
  6. Rest, then turn out onto a platter. Fried fish and daqqus alongside is the classic table.

The family table

Muaddas takes its name from adas — lentils — as mumawash takes its from the mung. The austere old version is just rice, lentils and onion, topped like its sibling with dried shrimp; the tomato-and-pepper pot is how many households make it now. Red or yellow lentils split the families.

Yumma

Middle Eastern home cooking, organized by country. Your family’s version is the one that counts.