Winter is a great time for Mujadra. It makes your house smell lovely. In my case it also makes my kitchen very, very warm. It's warm and filling and perfect for cold nights. Downsides? Well, Mujadra is never going to be a thing of beauty. But it's damn good.

This recipe is easy to make. Not fast, but easy, and once you make it once you'll probably be making it a lot. It's transliterated from Arabic so every middle eastern store you go into and every cookbook you read has a slightly different spelling. Meggadarra, Mujadara, Mugadra - it's all the same. Except it's not. It's all different. Some have more lentils, some have more rice, some are saltier, some have a shot of lemon juice. So basically whatever you want is fine. Have a good time. Not enough rice? Make it anyhow. Not enough lentils? Make it anyhow. Like most peasant dishes it's really hard to ruin.

In the dark, cramped Jordanian store in New York where I first met Mujadra it was wrapped in a hot pita and covered with all sorts of salty, crunchy, sour pickles. Now that I make my own I eat it one of two ways: 1. on a bed of lemony greens, cooked or salad-type. 2. Straight out of the pot with a spoon

MUJADRA

• 2 or 3 large yellow onions
• 4 Tbl (or more if necessary) good olive oil
• 1 cup lentils (the brown or green kind, don't use puy lentils or the orange indian ones)
• 1 cup rice (basmati is best but anything works as long as it's not "quik cooking"
• 1 tsp salt

Chop the onions coarsely.

Heat a good amount of olive oil (I suggest starting with at least a quarter cup but more won't hurt at all) in a large, flat bottom pot, the wider the better. I use my Indian Khadai for this. Of course, I use it for just about everything else, too.

When the oil is hot, add the onions, stir briskly to coat all the onions with hot oil and then turn the burner way, way down. The awesome flavor of Mujadra comes from the carmelized onions and without carmelized onions you have a very boring dish. Stir the onions occasionally, but let them cook until they are solidly dark brown all over. This takes about an hour but it's mostly hands off so don't freak out.

While the onions are cooking, take a small sauce pan and add the lentils enough water to cover them. Bring this to a boil, then cover it, turn the heat way down and leave it for 20 minutes.

When the onions are done (okay the first time you think they're done they're probably not, so just hold your horses. Make sure they're really really done) add the lentils and the uncooked rice to the pan and stir until all the rice has been coated with yummy onion-y oil.

Add 4 cups of water to the lentil-rice-onion mixture and 1 full tsp of salt. Bring the pot to a boil and then cover and turn the heat down.

Check after 20 minutes. The cooking time will depend on how wide your pot is. Pots with narrow bottoms will take longer. So check in 20 minutes. If there is still water, let it cook longer. If there is no water, taste the rice. If the rice is tender, you're done. If the rice is crunchy, add a little more water and cook some more.

When it's done, recheck seasonings. It may need more salt.

Adapted loosely from Claudia Rosen, Orangette, and every middle eastern restaurant I've ever been to. 1/4 of the amount above is about 300 calories.